Team Fortress 2 AU
by Stephanie Nova Rose Allen
Summary: The year is 2020, and it "was" a normal day, until the horde of mysterious robots appeared and killed everyone in the whole world, all except a young girl. She ran away from one of the robots, hoping for escape, but, unfortunately, she stepped onto a teleporter and got teleported to an unknown area, with giants.
1. Prologue: Escaped, Shrunken, and Caught

It was a peaceful night in the woods.

Birds were chirping happily in the trees until a loud, mechanical, and bellowing roar echoed through the woods, causing the birds to fly out of the trees, with panicked tweeting followed after them.

Then, the bushes in the woods ruffled a couple of times, until a running body came out from between the bushes and ran as fast as the figure can go.

The running figure ran into in the grassy plain, as the moonlight reflects onto the form.

In the moonlight, it shows the figure is actually a female.

She has tanned almond skin and long brown hair to the middle of her back.

The hair on the right-hand side of her temple is dyed in a light cyan blue colored dye and hidden within the thickness of her hair, along with ear cuffs that only slips over.

The right ear has only had two ear cuffs that are connected to each other on the tip, as the left has three on the side.

She is also wearing a pair of dark blue square glasses with round corners for her eyes.

Over her body is a blue, white, cerulean, peacock, and sky cameo sweater with a hoodie that is enormous that reaches down to her thighs, with pockets on the sides and a silver zipper in the front, and with frost hems at the ends of the sleeves and the lowest part of the garment.

She is also wearing a pair of blue jeans and a pair of light pink shoes with white shoelaces.

The female has her hood up over her head, and on her back is a blue denim backpack embroidered with flowers in black thread.

The female is speeding from one side to the other of the woods, panting after each step as she takes, and the look upon her face looked sad because the tear stains on her rosy cheeks, but terrified with fear from something that could have attacked her before.

She ran desperately past the trees, darted from one side to the other of the grassy meadows, rushed through the grass like plains without stopping to take a break.

The girl tore between bushes in her path, not bothering to stop to check if they are toxic with itching acid or with sharp thorns to prick her skin.

As she rushed through the forest, another mechanical roar echoed through the trees, causing more birds to fly out of the trees in the distance behind her.

She gasped in fear when she heard the noise too from behind her back.

She slowed down her pace slightly and glanced over her shoulder, still running past the trees, dodging them at each turn every time she quickly looks back in front then back.

A gigantic machine with glowing blue eyes came bursting out of the bushes.

It has a metal jaw and a blue metal undershirt with a yellow symbol shaped like a mighty fist on each shoulder.

The giant machine has its hands out in front of it as if it was going to catch her once it caught up with her.

Over its body is a black metal like a bulletproof vest with black metal ammunition over his shoulder and gray metal-like pants and dark metal "boots."

The giant robot gave out a mechanical roar like the other roar it did through the case when its optics caught sight of her, speeding up towards her.

She gasped in fear when it roared and glanced back in front, quickening her pace from slowing down slightly.

The girl bolted as fast as she could through the forest, while the giant robot was chasing after her, but the speed was slow because of the weight of the machine.

As she ran faster than before, worried she might get killed if she slowed down.

She did not know the robot was losing vision of her, as she raced deep into the dark woods, not caring to stop and take a break from all the running.

The girl suddenly tripped over an exposed dead branch of a tree it discarded a long time ago.

She gasped as she was flung forward, expecting to land harshly on the ground, as she has her hands out to stop herself from landing, going to have scrapes on her palms.

Instead, she noticed a flat piece of metal poking out of the ground, aimed for her forehead to make a dent in her skull.

Luckily, she twisted her body before the piece of metal hits her forehead, but the metal instead hit the right side of her temple.

She blacked out after the direct impact of the strange piece of metal, as a dull clunk noise came from it.

After what had been hours, she finally opened her eyes from the loud distorted noises that echoed around her.

Her eye color somehow turned into steel-blue and heard loud voices furiously yelling in different locations, with earthshaking footsteps.

She paused as she rethought the last sentence in her head, feeling a little scared when she first heard that thought in her mind.

'Earthshaking footsteps?'

She jolted up to her bottom from the ground and noticed the area around where she is looked… enormous.

Even though, where is she?

She slowly got up to her sore feet; she stretched out her feet from running through the forest to escape from that robot giant and sighed to herself.

After she had got up from the dusty ground, she started walking away from her spot, looking for a restroom where she can use it and mend her bruises, and scratches.

At that moment, after taking a step forward, an enormous boot in a dark color landed right in front of her, inches away from her face.

She immediately gave out a surprised cry before quickly covered her mouth with both of her hands, worried about who or what could be in front of her could attack her.

Luckily, the giant being did not hear her scream.

After a few moments had passed, the boot moved away from in front of her, as she looked up in fear to see what is in front of her.

When she glanced up to the sky, she was frightened at what she noticed, her body shaking from head to toe as her face went pale.

Standing in front of her is a giant man, with fair skin color.

He is wearing a soldier helmet on his head, which covers his eyes from seeing anything or letting anyone see what his eye color is.

Which was also lucky for her not to be caught by him too.

He is also wearing a red jacket to the bottom of his waist, with two orange symbols are in the shape of a rocket at his shoulders.

Underneath his jacket is a white undershirt.

A black waistband is wrapped around his chest with two yellow striped grenades attached to it.

Wrapped around his waist is a black belt with two pouches on each side of his hips.

His pants are in the color of crows.

The hems of the pants are shoved into his black foreleg boots.

He looked like he is precisely 50 ft tall, and she felt like she will faint at that moment on the spot.

But she managed to take it all into her body without losing one inch of the overwhelming feeling.

He seems to be angry about something that happened earlier before she got here because he is gritting his teeth, and his face is in the color of red.

She felt worried about the look on his face, thinking that she just appeared at the wrong time of the place, and in the middle of a fight.

He yelled in a loud booming voice that sounded gruff and in an American accent, "SCOUT! GET YOUR FUCKIN' ASS HERE RIGHT NOW!"

She immediately covers her ears with both of her hands, trying to block out the raging screaming from him that sounded like booming thunder to her.

She never ever felt so frightened in her life that she instantly started to shake uncontrollably from head to toe.

Wishing to herself repeatedly to go back to the forest she is running in.

Sincerely expecting this, all of this is just a terrible nightmare that she is dreaming of and wake up on the ground.

In the middle of the forest of where she belongs.

After waiting for a moment, he stormed away from the spot where he was standing impatiently, noticing the "Scout" he had called was not coming.

He stomped towards another spot; his footsteps rumbled the earth that made her tremble in fear.

She almost collapsed on the ground from each footstep stomped on the ground.

Be glad she was not underneath his feet.

After a minute passed, he was about to bellow out the name again, when a person poked his head around from the base's corner.

He was a thin young man, with light skin color, steel-blue eyes, and chestnut hair from underneath his crow colored hat.

The hat was not covering the back of his head like the familiar people she has met back at her home.

On top of his hat is a headphone with a microphone on the right side of the headphone.

His headphones only had one headphone on, so he had an ear out in case if anyone is calling to him, like the other giant for instance that is bellowing angrily for him.

He is also wearing a red a short-sleeved shirt, with the bottom of the shirt tucked into his crow colored pants with a belt holding it up and a silver buckle, and shoved into his thigh high, tight white socks and dark sneakers with two white stripes on the side with black shoelaces.

He is presumably the Scout that the scary massive man who is almost standing inches away from her mentioned while shouting out to him.

"What?!" he snapped, answering the other giant's call.

His voice sounded annoyed and snarky.

He is American like the other man who called for him angrily, expect sounds a bit southern than average people's languages.

"What da fuck do ya want?!" he snapped again, coming from around the corner to him.

The helmeted giant walked up to the other man, looked annoyed as he has his arms crossed over his chest.

"WHERE IS THE FUCKIN' MEDIC?!" the helmeted man screamed in anger, stomping his foot down on the ground.

She could not help but cover her ears with both of her hands, using the flat palms of her hands.

Blocking the shouting out from between the two of them, as she almost toppled over to her back after from his stomp.

"I don't know," the Scout scoffed, shrugging his shoulders.

"'DON'T KNOW' MY ASS, WHERE IS HE?!" he screamed again in more anger, this time, he grabbed the collar of his short-sleeved red shirt with both of his hands, almost lifting him up from the ground.

She jumped in fear when he started getting angry, her face getting red at the minute.

"Well, go tell Hardhat or somethin'! I don't know jack shit 'bout where he is!" he said anxiously, trying to get out his fierce grip on his shirt.

"HE'S BUSY LIKE THE REST OF THE FUCKIN' TEAM!" he yelled, again, almost shaking the Scout like a doll. "DO YOU KNOW WHERE HE IS, MAGGOT! ANSWER ME, GODDAMNIT!"

Both of them got engaged in a heated argument; the Scout shoving him as he continued screaming in his face, shaking him back and forth, repeating the same question over and over about the missing medic.

She began leaving the two, slowly walking away from them, although on the verge of tears from the argument between the two.

Since she had grown up with sensitivity, it had been hard on her to cope with anger.

When she is far away from the two, she immediately started to speed up from walking to running, although her legs ached from what happened in the forest.

As soon as she got far away from the two cursing and arguing giants, she sighed and finally stopped for a breath.

She stopped in a covered area where there is shade for her to be protected from both the sun and the two giants.

She inhaled and exhaled as she panted.

Her mouth felt dry from breathing in and out repeatedly from running away from the brutal monster back at home.

She bent down and placed her palms on her knees, taking a moment to get some energy.

After a moment of gathering fresh breaths of air to run again, she looked keenly behind her back at the two arguing giants, shouting at each other, as the Soldier had a hold of his shirt.

Something appeared behind them, looming over them like a giant shadow, which instantly made her gasp in shock.

It was the same robot, but this "machine" has real skin as a modern human, would that be in a light color, and he is bald with no chance of hair.

He is very enormous to her height if she was turned back to average height.

But from where she is, the giant is towering above his teammates that are still arguing in front of him.

He is bearing similarities to the robot version of him, a bullet ammunition belt over his right shoulder, and the dark vest over his red shirt with the same symbols, but instead of the color of orange than yellow.

On his hands are twin black fingerless gloves, and crow colored pants shoved into his dark ankle-high boots.

But instead of having a machine inside of him, he was human and looked perfectly normal.

"Enough!" he scolded, as his large hands gripped both of the giants' heads.

When he gripped their heads, he made them stop their heated argument over a missing medic, as the helmeted man's hands released the Scout's shirt.

His voice is deep and loud, but with a thick Russian accent.

Why would a 50-foot tall "robot" say that to them?

Would he instantly kill them on the spot since he has the chance?

But, he did not show any aggression to them as he held them there, not even using too much strength in his hands.

After they had stopped, he sighed and released their heads, as the Scout was placed back down on the ground, brushing his shirt back down to normal from being ruffled.

"We find doktor by looking. Leetle Scout goes there." The giant Russian softly spoke, pointing out in the distance to the base's garage door.

Then he pointed up at a tower with his other hand.

"Leetle Soldier goes there," he instructed, as he pointed to the other side of the place.

"Why would da Doc be over there?" the Scout asked, sounding confused.

"That is where keeps bird," He plainly answered.

"FINE! I'LL GO OVER THERE!" the American fiercely snapped, startling the Scout who slightly jumped from the sound of his voice.

He is named Soldier addressed by the giant Russian, going over to where he pointed earlier.

"Yeah, and I'll just go over there where ya said it." the Scout said, walking in the other direction where the Russian pointed with his other hand.

After they both left, the giant Russian sighed, muttering something in his language, which luckily Stephanie could not translate, sounding relieved that he had to move the two arguing giant away from each other before a hand-to-hand fight breaks, but still annoyed.

He walked over to a different spot on the battlefield after going around the corner of the base, leaving her alone in the middle of nowhere.

She had never felt this confused and scared before.

What happened to her after she was knocked out?

Did someone take her here after she was shrunken?

Or did the piece of metal take her here after she had gone into it?

She carefully walked away from the spot she was standing and went into the empty plain, without anyone noticing her.

At that moment, the speakers turned on, and she jolted out from her skin, startled by the ear-piercing static of the speakers.

She covered her ears again to block the noises out as it rang.

" _Mission begins in 10 seconds._ " a mysterious voice suddenly informed, through the speakers. " _The mission begins in 10 seconds._ "

She winced in fear, scared that someone or something might kill her in 10 seconds!

She started running for cover, frantically looking around to hide.

" _5, 4, 3, 2,_ " the mysterious voice counted, counting down to zero. " _1\. Begin!_ "

After the voice stopped counting down the time, the ground started shaking again, causing her to wobble around every time she stops and glance around at her surroundings, trying to regain her balance without falling over.

She squeaked in fear as she wobbled side to side, startled at the sudden movement of the ground.

She ran over to a large rock after the rumbling died down a bit and carefully hid behind it.

Guns fired in random directions, the ground shook as footsteps ran in different directions and loud screams echoed through the air.

She peeked around the corner of where she is hiding, seeing splatters of blood landed on the ground along with pieces of organs.

She almost gagged at the sight of the gore and blood, as her face paled a little.

The girl had never ever felt this scared in her life.

In the distance, she heard something getting closer to her, so she quickly scrambled up to her feet and ran away from her hiding spot.

The female noticed a corner, in between concrete and wood and sighed in slight relief.

She ran towards the corner, looking out for incoming bullets, feet, or organs.

When she reached the corner and tried climbing up along the wall by hooking her fingers on the cracks.

But it was too smooth for her fingers to hook onto anything.

She whimpered in fear and turned around to the fight, wondering if there is somewhere else to hide instead of this spot.

A giant shadow suddenly loomed over her, as she was thinking to herself about a new spot to hide.

She instantly froze in her spot, as she slowly glanced up at what is in front of her.

Standing in front of her is the same giant Russian that split the two arguing giants from quarreling over a missing medic.

But she is lucky that he is facing back first against her.

Before she could walk away from the giant Russian, a sudden shot of a scattergun echoed through the air, scaring her, as she jumped 5 inches from the ground.

After the sudden scattergun gunshot, he started toppling backward, while dropping a large gun to the ground.

She scrambled away from the toppling giant, as he landed backward, inches away from her body.

A large hole was left on his chest, revealing some of his organs that are bleeding out, as well as a missing heart.

She quietly gagged to herself as she covered her mouth with her right hand.

But she held in her gag as she inhaled deeply.

At that moment, she tried moving one of her legs to step over the corpse, but she was pinned to the corner by his arm!

She gasped and placed her hands on the corpse's enormous arm, feeling the cold of death rating from him.

The female tried pushing the arm with her strength to get some room to get out, but he was too large for her to move his arm.

She groaned in slight annoyance and in fear and was going to try once more to move the corpse again from her body until she heard footsteps again.

They were sharp, but light footsteps and they also sounded like they are in a hurry too.

Terrified, she sharply gasped, as the pupils of her eyes went slightly inward, as her heart beats faster.

Another giant is coming towards her!

She frantically tried to squirm out of her spot, trying to get out of the corner until the footsteps got closer and stopped in front of the corpse.

She fearfully glanced up from looking down at the corpse that was carefully pinning her to the corner and saw another enormous man.

This man has short and smooth jet black hair, that is lightly graying of the old age that he is going through on the sides of his sideburns at the ears, steel-blue eye color, and fair skin.

He is wearing a light gray coat that reaches down to his ankles and has orange logos shaped in a plus symbol from where she is.

Since he is facing the other way, which is sideways, she could see a bit of detail on him.

Underneath his coat, she could see a white undershirt beneath his long doctor jacket and a red tie, along with a pair of red rubber gloves that almost reaches to his elbows and small round glasses.

He was also wearing a crow colored pants shoved into a pair of black boots that are up to his mid-leg.

The giant man is a doctor, to her own fear.

She always fears doctors since she was a baby.

She fondly remembered her mother once told her she was wrapped in a blanket to be warm from being cold.

Her mother told her she was traumatized by this while she was left in there for a long time.

As she was staring at the doctor, she did not notice that the corpse of the giant Russian disappeared into thin air, allowing her to move from her spot.

But she did not move from her spot as she was stuck there, staring fearfully at the giant medic.

He was staring into the distance, not even noticing a tiny human in the corner, shaking from head to toe while staring at him with fear in the eyes.

He seems to only stare out in the opening, not doing anything or yelling out anything to anyone on the other side of the wall.

After a while of staring out in the distance, as he stood there perfectly still, without even looking at her.

Suddenly, both of them heard a loud bang noise, as it was coming from the right-hand side of where she is standing at, as it came from in front of the giant medic.

The loud and sudden noise startled her as she jumped.

She flinched from the noise in the distance, as he sighed, sounding irritated.

He lifted his right hand up to his face and placed it on the right side of his temple, gently stroking it with his fingers as he looked annoyed.

While his left hand was holding the nozzle of the machine on his back.

"Zhis team…" he groaned.

His voice is deep and masculine but thick with a German accent.

She leaned a bit out to the side, noticing he did not see her in the corner.

When she glanced in front of her, she noticed that the giant Russian somehow disappeared into thin air, and she could finally move!

So, she decided to take the risk of either getting caught or accidentally killed.

About to move any of her legs, she only got down to her bottom, because she does not feel confident of getting up to her feet.

Before she could move any of arms to crab crawl away, she accidentally pushed a rock to the side, making a soft crunch noise.

She mentally winced in fear when she heard the noise from the rock, praying quietly to herself.

But, he eventually heard the noise.

He glanced over at where she is, as she froze in her spot, only on her bottom and her legs out in front of her.

He only took one stare at her, before glancing away from her, out in the distance.

Did he catch a glimpse of her?

The answer is yes.

He took another look at her, with a slightly puzzled look on his face, as she quietly squeaked in fear.

She tried to make herself small against the corner, she is against, scooting closer, her knees up to her neck.

His steel-blue eyes widen in shock to see someone smaller than him, undoubtedly sitting in front of him, all hunched up against a corner.

His glasses only fell off his nose a bit to the tip, until he reached over with his right hand to his glasses and gently pushed them back into place with his first finger, still gazing at her for a moment.

She is terrified she was being stared at by a doctor because of how small she is.

Vivid visions of her being snatched from the ground and used for an experiment haunted her memory, causing her to look away from the staring medic, looking down at her knees up to her face.

She repeatedly wished she was back at home, dreaming a horrible dream she is trapped in.

Daringly, she glanced over at the giant medic, hoping he was not still staring at her.

But, he was still staring at her, as she whimpered a bit to herself.

After a moment of staring, he shook his head side to side and glanced once again away from her, causing her to be confused about what he is doing.

He is ignoring what he saw sitting before him.

He glanced away from her and put the nozzle of the machine over his back, like how a Ghostbuster would in one of the movies.

The Medic reached up to his small round glasses with both of his hands and took them off of his nose bridge, looking at them thoughtfully, if there are dirt or fingerprints on from him.

After a while of looking at the lenses of his glasses, he placed them back on his face.

Then, he placed his two fingers of his right hand against his temple, looking confused for a moment as he thought to himself.

She could not move in her spot, as she stared at the giant medic not sure of herself to either move or to stay put.

He glanced back at her to the side, gazing thoughtfully at her.

She curled more into her small ball to hide away from him.

At that moment, he sighed and turned his body around from the battle, to her as she jumped.

When he got close enough to her, he slowly knelt on one knee, as she was uncontrollably shaking from head to toe.

She placed her right arm on top of her head, as she wrapped her left arm around her legs, curling into a somewhat fetal position.

She glanced away from him for a moment, before glancing up at him, noticing how huge he was up close.

The girl did not know how to react since she only froze in her spot, just shaking from head to toe.

They were staring at each other for a moment, and she is thinking of what he is going to do to her, and how is she going to get out of this big mess?

After a moment of staring at each other, he suddenly reached over to her with his right hand to grab her.

She could not help herself, but to cry out in fear from the sudden movement of his hand.

She quickly closed her eyes for the sudden grab, glancing away in fear.

Sincerely hoping all of this will end.

But, she did not feel anything touch her body.

Not even a single digit from both of his hands.

She glanced up in slight confusion and concern, noticing she was not off the ground.

She glanced back at the doctor and noticed he was not gazing at her, but at something else than her.

The girl glanced over to where his hand is and noticed he instead grabbed a beetle that was going towards her.

To her shock, it was precisely the size of a dog.

When she was almost at his size, bugs were just bug-sized.

He flung it away from her to the side.

She watched as the beetle landed on its back, before going back up to its legs and ran away from the both.

She glanced back up at him, still shaking as he wiped his hand on his pants, brushing the dirt off his hand.

After he had wiped his hand on his pants, he carefully placed his right hand back on the ground for support.

He leaned his body a little, for a closer look of her and noticed her shaking uncontrollably, so, he slightly tilted his head in confusion.

Before he could say something to her, he and the girl overheard a loud voice, thick with a Scottish accent called out, "MEDIC!"

He glanced over his shoulder, gazing out the plain, his eyes glancing side to side for the source of the voice.

She was still petrified with fear as she is still in her spot, unable to move.

Her arm over her head and wrapped around her legs, curling into a slightly small ball, staring at him with fear in her eyes.

Worried about the giant doctor deciding to hurt her.

He glanced back at her, and she jumped when he glanced back at her.

To her own fear, he reached over with both hands this time, he gently scooped the frightened girl with his right hand from the ground.

He moved his left hand behind her back, making a protective wall for her to be safe for the trip up.

She was still shaking in fear when he suddenly reached over to her with both of his hands.

So, she tried moving away from his hands, turning his body towards him as he reaches for her.

He gently scooped her up in his palm as she squeaked loudly in startlement and fear as soon as she was in the middle of his palm.

She has her hands on top of his palm as her back was against her other hand, creating a wall for her to be protected.

He slowly moves his hands up towards his chest, up high in the air off the ground.

As she was getting up into the air, she tightly gripped the rubber of his gloves in fear.

Worried about being dropped to the ground if a single mistake of moving his hands too fast.

His fingers slightly curled in towards her body, to protect her from falling off his hands.

When he lifted her up to his chest level, he started to get up to his feet from kneeling down on the ground.

She began hyperventilating quietly in fear, but her grip on the rubber of his glove underneath her tightened.

When he got up to his full height, while still carefully carrying the little girl in his hands, she felt like she is up in a really tall roller coaster, getting ready to go down the next hill.

He observed in his surroundings for a moment, checking for anyone else like his team members or someone else than his team members.

She glanced around too, now seeing things easier than being down on the ground.

But she still does not trust the people around in the field.

He moved his left hand from behind her back and gently pulled back the pocket on the left-hand side of his chest.

He carefully slipped her into his breast pocket as he heard a soft and startled squeak escaped from her but muffled after she entered.

After he had carefully placed her in his chest pocket of his coat, he gently stroked his fingers on her back, feeling her shaking form.

Then, he reached over his shoulder to his machine backpack on his back.

He pulled out the nozzle to the machine and placed his right hand on the handle.

"MEDIC!" The same Irish man's voice called on the right.

He glanced over at where the voice is coming from, as the girl inside his pocket curled more down to the bottom.

"MEDIC!" the voice called again.

"All right! I'm coming!" he called back to the Irish man, as he quickly ran over to where the voice was coming from.

He watched out for any incoming missiles because he does not want to hurt her since she is with him.

After an hour of fighting, she listened anxiously to the loud yelling, guns firing in different directions, and the shrill cries of pain.

A couple of times, she could smell the smell of copper, which sometimes make her cover her nose with her right hand.

She does not feel sick as she was inside his pocket, although she sometimes grips the surrounding fabric a couple of times nervously of being tossed out on accident.

Then, the giant Medic stopped running as he was panting a bit, and the little girl, on the other hand, was a little shaken up.

After the Medic stopped running, the speakers clicked on, letting them know that the mysterious voice behind the microphone is going to announce the news.

" _You won!_ " was through the speakers after the woman behind the microphone declared the announcement.

He sighed gently in relief after the news went through the speakers and placed the nozzle of his machine over his shoulder, and back in the place where it stays.

After putting the machine's nozzle away, he glanced down at his chest pocket, wondering to himself for a moment about her.

Gently placing his fingertips against the girl's back, he could feel the girl inside his chest pocket, shaking uncontrollably in fear from something that happened earlier.

He thought to himself for a moment about why she is frightened as he walked back into the base, removing his fingers from her back.

He recognized something when he entered the base.

She is frightened of him because of his height and the dangerous things he could do to her if he wants to.

He winced in annoyance when he is alone.

His apparent lack of knowledge of her and her new surroundings did not work out and created her to fear more.

He sighed gently as he placed a hand on his forehead, embarrassed and ashamed at himself for his actions.

"Ich bin ein Idiot," he softly mumbled in German, sounding annoyed at himself.

He entered a room while following with the rest of his team members.

The room has lockers against a wall at the left-hand side of the entrance.

In the middle of the room is a metal bench, as there is a couch on the right-hand side of the room.

They took their weapons out and placed them in their lockers.

But after cleaning some dirt and blood off them before they placed them inside.

He walked over to the farthest locker and opened it, placing his weapons inside after the fight.

He took off the backpack from his back and placed it in the locker, taking off the weapons and objects he carries with him.

As he was tidying up, he kept feeling the girl trembling in his pocket, so he finished cleaning off the dirt from one of his weapons.

He closed his locker after putting the last object inside, and walked away from the locker room, entering into a long hallway.

As he wandered through the hallway, he looked around for anyone else with him and sighed gently.

He stopped walking in the middle of the hallway and with his right hand, he reached into his right chest pocket.

He heard her whimper in fear as she scrambled to the bottom of the pocket, desperately trying to get away from his fingers.

Patiently, he reached into his pocket more to reach her until he brushed his digits over her backpack on her back.

He gently pinched her backpack, not too much to destroy the things inside from his strength.

He hoisted her out of his pocket as she limped, looking terrified to squirm around to escape from him.

The Medic lifted her up to his face, as her backpack is gently pinched between his first finger and thumb.

She looked absolutely frightened when she was in front of his face and curled into a small ball, staring back at him.

Worriedly thinking that she is perfect for an experiment or worse, for something to eat since he has not eaten anything for breakfast.

He glanced all over her body for a moment with his eyes, recognizing some scrapes on her elbows and knees.

There were cuts on her hands from falling onto her knees from running from something and a bruise on the right side of her temple.

He was silent for a moment as he stared back at her eyes, as she gasped and glanced away, looking down at the ground.

She felt like she is being held over the side of a skyscraper by the back of her sweater.

Her stomach twists nervously from the thought of being dropped to the ground.

Then, he placed her back into his chest pocket, hearing a shaky sigh from her.

He continued walking through the hallway, heading towards a room.

As for her, she was still shaking from head to toe, but she did not make a ruckus from inside.

She was quiet to hear the lullaby of his beating heartbeat.

She felt quite amazed at how huge his heart might be.

After a while of walking, he stopped in front of a pair of doors, and opened it, entering a Medic Bay.

The Medic Bay is filled with medical drip bag holders, medical curtains to cover the patients and some beds for the patients to lay on top of.

There were tables for him to place his surgery tools on top of too, and there was a desk in the far corner.

He walked over to a metal counter and reached back into his chest pocket and this time, lightly wrapped his fingers around her waist instead of her backpack.

The Medic gently pulled her out of his pocket and placed her onto the counter as she collapsed onto her bottom.

"Vait right here," he kindly spoke, breaking the ice between the both of them.

He saw her jolt from the sudden sound of his voice, sounding unusually calm and gentle.

She glanced over her shoulder to him, looking worried, but trusting towards him.

He is trying to assure her that he is not an actual killing machine that she saw or heard from inside his chest pocket.

"I'm just going to get some medical bandages for jour vounds," he spoke again, mentioning to her scrapes.

She glanced away from him for a moment, thinking to herself about her trust towards him.

Then she glanced back up at him, slowly nodding her head.

He understood she was slowly trusting him, deciding not to force her.

He turned his back around towards her and headed in the direction of a cabinet in the distance.

As he was opening some cabinets, she glanced around at her surroundings, looking at the x-rays of one of the team members, and noticing there is a missile in his body.

She shivered slightly at the thought of having a missile inside of her.

Feeling the bruise on the side of her head, she thought about what she landed on top of.

Maybe it could be a sharp piece of metal?

If it could be that, she could have been dead for a long time.

She glanced back over at the Medic, noticing he opened the third cabinet.

Inside the cabinet are two jars.

The first jar is filled with cotton balls, and the second jar is filled with Q-tips.

He took out the jars of Q-tips and cotton balls and closed the cabinet door.

After collecting the jars, he opens the next cabinet door.

There were many bottles inside from the bottom to the top of the shelves.

Some bottles were empty, as some were filled with different liquids inside.

He took out a bottle filled with hydrogen peroxide from one of the shelves and placed it down on the counter.

She was quiet while watching him as he collected some things to mend people when they are injured.

Until she felt like she is being watched.

Glancing over to her left side, she went face to face with a gas-masked figure, staring at her from the table, as the chin is on top of the surface.

"Hmm?" the masked figure muffled in confusion when it noticed she was staring at it.

She screamed out in fear at the sight of the gas-masked figure and scrambled backwards.

The Medic jumped from the sudden scream and whipped around to see what she screamed about, just to notice the gas-masked figure, now does not have its chin against the counter.

It is wearing a black gas mask, a red jumpsuit with orange symbols at the forearms in the shape of a flame and wearing black suspender straps on top of the shoulders and black gloves with yellow tips of the fingers and around the rim of the glove and over the chest is a belt and black combat boots.

"Pyro!" he exclaimed, scolding at the masked figure. "Don't do zhat to her! Jou might accidentally hurt her on accident."

The Pyro, the gas-masked figure's name, turned their head around to him and muffled, "Mrrdrr, whh hmf fhm?"

The doctor sighed gently in slight annoyance and answered the muffled question, "I found her en an empty corner vhere I vas standing earlier. Luckily I found her before anyone else did."

The Pyro gave out an "mmh" that sounded in acknowledgment about his explanation.

It glanced back at the terrified girl as she jolted from the black "eyes" staring down at her.

"Mrrdrr, whht hhppmnmd th hmr?" the Pyro muffled again, as the figure pointed at her, making her feel nervous about the pointing.

"She vas like zhis vhen I noticed her," he explained, answering their question, taking out some cotton balls and some Q-tips. "I am not sure of how she came here like zhis, but I could mend her vounds."

"Mhh." the Pyro muffled again, removing the pointing digit from her.

She is relieved to be not pointed at but still feels uncomfortable of the staring from them.

The doors of the Medic Bay suddenly opened, revealing to be the same Scout from before.

"Yo Doc, I…" he trailed off when he took the first glance at her, then a second glance back at her after his mind quickly went back to the subject of a tiny person on the counter.

He noticed her sitting on the counter in front of the distracted Pyro who was staring at her with a nervous and worried look underneath the mask.

She looked uncomfortable as she was not staring back at them.

She was quiet for a moment, not even noticing the curious Scout right behind the Pyro.

Before she could look up at the Pyro, something grabbed her right leg, lifted up into the air, as she gave out a terrifying scream, as the Pyro glanced over at who grabbed her.

She was hanging upside down, as her backpack was luckily on the counter, from her taking it off when the doctor was getting medical supplies for her to mend her wounds.

Before she could say something, she was lifted up in front of a pair of steel-blue eyes.

She froze in fear as she only squeaked, feeling her heart beat faster.

Unfortunately, the pair of steel-blue eyes belong to the same Scout she saw earlier with the other man who was shouting fiercely at him.

He has her right leg gently pinched between his first finger and thumb on his right hand.

"Yo Doc, where didja find her?" he asked, causing her to jump from the sudden noise of his voice.

"Hmm? Ach!" the doctor's voice exclaimed to the other side when he noticed the Scout holding her in his fingers.

Then, his red-gloved rubber hand quickly reached over to the Scout's left ear and pinched harshly between his first finger and thumb.

"Vhat are jou zhinking?!" he exclaimed fiercely in anger. "Jou do not hold her by her leg!"

"Ow! Doc!" he exclaimed in pain, accidentally releasing his grip on her leg.

As the Scout released her leg, she was plunged to the ground as she felt her heart stopped from the sudden drop.

Expecting to hit the ground harshly, she was caught by something leathery underneath her back.

She sat up in the strange feeling and glanced over her shoulder to see the same enormous guy that she noticed earlier.

She thought her heart stopped at the sight of the giant Russian, who died right in front of her on the battlefield.

How did he return to the living?

He was kneeling down on one knee, and his right hand was underneath her as a rescue platform for her to be safe on top instead of landing on the ground to her death, as his left is on the ground, as a pillar for his balance.

She felt slightly protected in his large palm, instead of crashing towards the ground, sending her to her imminent death.

But she is still worried he might kill her.

After she had been caught in his large palm, he slowly and carefully stood up to his height.

He is much taller than the Medic's height as she curled closer in the middle of the giant's palm, terrified of falling over on accident.

He shouted fiercely, which startled her as she jumped.

"Enough!" he loudly bellowed, scaring everyone in the Medic Bay.

The Pyro, Medic and the Scout glanced at him after they both had finished their argument.

He glanced down at the terrified stiffened girl in his palm, now with both of her hands on top of her head, shaking uncontrollably from head to toe.

She was crying silently to herself as her shoulders twitch every time she sniffs.

She is terrified of this situation she is in, frightened that she might be pulled into it too between the both of them.

"Look at poor lettle mouse. Scared to death because you babies," he spoke, gazing at her with a concerned look in his eyes.

"Maybe she's scared of ya instead." the Scout sneered, before wincing when the Medic's grip on his ear tightened.

"No, she es scared of jou because of jour lack of carefulness!" the Medic angrily snapped.

"I was just curious 'bout her!" the Scout whined, trying to get his ear back from his fingers, as the mark of where his fingers are turning purple.

The Russian growled aggressively at both of them as they stopped arguing.

The Medic ignored the Scout's protests and finally released the Scout's ear, as he mumbled a curse underneath his breath, rubbing his ear tenderly with his hand.

With both of his hands, he gently scooped her out of the enormous giant's palm, as she flinched by the softness of his hands from underneath his gloves.

She felt relieved to be out of the giant Russian's palm and felt more comfortable in the Medic's hands.

Even though she is still scared of medics.

She was worried to be accidentally squished by him if not careful or by his anger if the argument has not died down by his warnings.

"Herr Scout, zhat vas, not a correct vay to pick her up vhen jou vanted to see her again next time jou see her." the Medic replied calmly, as he gently placed her against his chest as if he is carrying an adorable puppy in his hands.

She gripped his coat with both of her hands as she moved her head against his chest as if she wanted to hide away from everyone.

The Medic noticed her curled up against his chest slightly and said nothing to her, only continued talking to the team.

"Now, ef jou don't mind, I have some tending to do vith her vounds, before sending her back to zhe home zhat she lives en. Her parents might be vorried about her being missing." the Medic sighed, moving his hands into a better position than the first one he was holding her in.

The enormous Russian nodded his head thoughtfully, agreeing with him.

"Lettin' her go?" the Scout asked. "What if we did not know anythin' 'bout her parents. What if-"

"Now, Scout." the Medic calmly snapped, glaring at him, as she flinched from the sound of his voice, still shaking slightly.

The Scout was going to say something to retaliate the order when the Russian wrapped his arm around his middle, picking him up the ground as he yelped from the sudden lift.

As he was squirming and shouting at him to put him down, he did not listen to his words as he left the Medic Bay.

All except the Pyro, who is stubborn to leave the Medic Bay without knowing if she is okay or not.

"Jou too Herr Pyro," he replied, as he was going to pull her away from his chest when he noticed that she had a grip on his coat.

So, he stopped himself from impatiently trying to get her off his chest and waited for her to calm down.

The Pyro gave out a muffled, "Mmh…" as a protest against his order, but sighed, giving in.

They stood up on their feet and shuffled out of the Medic Bay, following after the two other people who left earlier.

He sighed gently in slight annoyance after he had heard the Medic Bay's doors closed behind their back, mumbling something in German.

Luckily, she does not know what he said in his language.

Noticing he was waiting for her to release his coat, she shakily released his jacket, before grabbing both of her trembling hands together, to stop herself from shaking.

He felt concerned about her since the way she is shaking, and not looking at him as she looks at her hands, before wincing when her fingertips brushed a scratch behind her hand.

Remembering what he was doing before the Scout came into the Medic Bay, he placed her back down on the same table where the Pyro was at, staring creepily at her.

She gently landed right next to her backpack, as she curled up into a ball, slightly hiding from the Medic.

He turned back around to her and politely asked, "Could jou pull up jour sleeves und pant legs? I'm guessing zhat jou went zhrough some pricker bushes und rocks vhen jou vere running."

A confused look appeared on her face, before glancing at her hands, noticing visible scratches from her fingertips to the bottom of her palm, and bleeding a bit.

She glanced back at him and shakily nodded her head, trying not to anger him.

So being careful with her injuries, she carefully and slightly painfully pulled up her sleeves, revealing small cuts on her arms, along with some visible bruises on some areas where she collided with some of the rocks.

There were scrapes on her legs, as she tugged her blue jean pant legs up.

After she pulled her up her pant legs and sleeves, he stuck a cotton ball pinched from a pair of tweezers and dipped the tip of the ball into the hydrogen peroxide.

When the cotton ball had soaked a bit of the hydrogen peroxide from inside the bottom, he took the cotton ball out and reached over to her with his left hand.

She backed up in fear when he reaches over to her with his left hand, worried he might do something worse to her than what the other half of the team members did to her.

He stopped when he noticed her moving away from his hand.

Instead of getting angry at her and force her to get close to him, he instead curled his fingers around her body, not trap her like a bug.

She felt scared as he gently moved his fingers inward, but she repeatedly told herself mentally he would not do any harm to her.

As his fingers finished curled around her, she moved in the middle of his palm, trying not to get near his digits.

"Could jou perhaps move jour right arm out?" he politely asked, as she glanced up at him.

Nodding her head, she shakily moved her right arm out, her palm down.

Using the tip of the cotton ball, he lightly tapped the scrapes on her arm as she gently hissed to herself from the gentle stinging.

But, she relaxed as he cleaned her wounds.

She felt calm she is getting mended up with medical treatments, luckily is not using syringes.

She shivers to herself at the memory of syringes.

The girl watched as the Medic gently touched her wounds with the tip of the cotton ball.

After he was finished cleaning the scrapes on her right arm, she lifts her left arm out, as he did the same thing to her arm.

When he is done with her left arm, he did the same thing with her legs, although she is sheepish about the feeling.

After her wounds were done with the hydrogen peroxide, he places the bottle down on a different area of the counter.

He reaches over to a small roll of white fabric bandages and picks it up, along with a single gauze pad.

Being careful as he can, the Medic first places the small gauze pads down on the visible wounds on her arms, as she held her arm out still.

Although shaken a bit from what she went through.

He gently wraps the fabric bandage around over the gauze pads on her arms, without tightening it too tight.

After he had mended her, she merely had her arms covered than her face, even her palms and the back of her hands too.

Her legs were covered in bandages too only from the ankle to her knees.

The bruise on the side of her head was not covered by bandages, because it was hidden underneath the thickness of her hair.

She reaches up to her sleeves that she has gently pulled up by his polite ask and pulls them down, covering the bandages.

She did the same thing to her pant legs, covering the bandages the Medic had gently wrapped on her.

"Zhere, now zhat jou are mended vithout any procedures nor stitches," he replied, as he stood up fully from kneeling down to mend her wounds.

She winced and shivered in fear when he mentioned "stitches."

He noticed her cringing from the mention of "stitches," and decided to change the object about her medical condition during the procedure.

The Medic pulled back a drawer of his desk and pulled out a small knitted blanket that someone has made for him.

The blanket is in the color of white, as there were small medic symbols decorated on it.

He gently gave the small blanket to her as if it is a shock blanket to help her to calm down from her shock.

She took the blanket from him and wrapped it around her body, hugging it close to her body as she shook.

After she had taken the blanket from him, he stood back up from kneeling down slightly.

Reaching over to a different area of the counter, he picked up a clipboard with a pencil laid across the top of a blank piece of paper clipped to it.

She felt confused as she watches him walk back to her, standing in front of her, as he has a pencil in his right hand.

He politely asked, "Please give me jour address to jour home und Miss Pauling vill take jou back home."

She was silent for a moment, glancing away from his gaze, still worried and slightly concerned about his trust towards her.

But not only that, she looked rather sad too.

He got curious and oddly, slightly concerned for her condition in the state she is in.

"Are jou still traumatized?" he asked, deciding to ask something else than to push her over the edge of being comfortable.

She was going to say something to him about what happened earlier before she was somehow teleported here, but she stopped herself, and only nodded her head, sadly answering his question about her condition instead of her address to her home.

He sighed gently after she quietly had answered his question.

"Unfortunately jou have to stay here until jou are fully cured to tell me zhe address of jour home, zhen," he replied gently, as he set the clipboard back down on the counter, right next to her. "I'll be very certain zhat jou are perfectly safe here, und no one else vhould hurt jou."

She was silent for a moment from his explanations, glancing away from him, before glancing back up at him, nodding her head again, agreeing with him.

After receiving the message from her, he turned his back around to her and walked out of the doors of the Medic Bay, opening one of them, and closed the door behind his back.

After she is left alone in the Medic Bay, she felt curious about why he looked concerned about her, and a little revealed that he is gone.

Lucky that he did not use any needles on her to numb her wounds that would sting a bit.

Outside the Medic Bay, the Medic explained the problems with his patient that she is cured of her wounds, but not fully cured to go back home.

And explained that she has to stay here for a while until she is ready to go back.

The Scout sighed in slight annoyance and concern.

"So, you're sayin' she's gunna stay here for a while until she's fully cured?" he explained in his own words, repeating what the Medic said before.

The Russian placed his right hand on his clean-shaven head, thinking to himself about the Medic's concerns of his tiny patient.

"How da fuck are we gunna take care of a freakin' girl, even though we are freakin' giants compared to her?!" the Scout exclaimed.

"Then we be careful with tiny mouse," the Russian replied, in broken English.

"Even though she is gunna walk around her like she gives a crap about what's gunna happen 'round here?" the Scout snapped.

The Medic sighed in slight annoyance and calmly replied, "Ve keep an eye out for her en case she es around here zhen. Ve don't vant to make her more traumatized zhan now."

All three were quiet for a moment, before the Pyro muffled, "Whht hbhht thm rmft hf thm tmhm?"

"Zhe rest of zhe team?" the Medic replied curiously, translating what the Pyro asked him.

"We will tell them too." The Russian replied, answering the Pyro's question for the Medic.

The Pyro looked somewhat relieved that they are going to tell the rest of the team.

But behind the lenses of the gas mask, they looked concerned about her being alone by herself.

Back in the Medic Bay, the girl was waiting patiently for the Medic to come back for any other wounds or anything that she did not notice, as she was shaking slightly to herself from the encounter of the war.

Minutes had passed, and the Medic did not show up, so she felt concerned and nervous.

Has he forgotten all about her in the Medic Bay?

Half of her wants to leave, while the other half wants to stay put and wait for him to come back.

But the wants-to-leave side is more dominant than the other half, so, she shakily stood up from the table, with the small knitted blanket on her back.

She glanced down at it, with a curious look on her face, before sighing, knowing she has to stay here at the base.

She folded the small knitted blanket in where it was earlier and placed it down on the counter, letting the Medic keep it.

After folding the blanket, she picked up the backpack from the counter; she took off earlier and placed it on her back.

After she put her backpack on, she glanced over the side of the counter, noticing how tall it is and how she would break a leg.

That would make the Medic more annoyed and have to mend her again from her broken leg.

She glanced to her left and noticed one of the medical drip bag holders was near the counter, just inches away from where she was.

Walking over to the medical drip bag holder, she glanced down at the ground, shivering to herself of falling down to the ground if she accidentally slips.

Placing her hand on the holder, she wraps her arms around it, until she wraps her body around it, getting ready to slide down.

Releasing her grip a bit, she slides down the pole, as she eases herself down.

When she reaches the ground, she jumped off the pole, landing on the ground on her hands and feet.

She winced slightly from the pain in her palms.

After she had landed on the ground, she glanced up at the counter over her head.

It was way up in the air.

She mentally shudders to herself at the height of the counter, mentally feeling glad that she had survived the fall, without making a single mistake that could take her life away.

Then, she glanced over at the Medic Bay's doors, thinking to herself about the Medic and the rest of the team.

A sad look came across her face as she sighed gently.

Turning her back around from the door, she glanced around her surroundings, looking for a different way than through the front.

She noticed a hole in the far corner of the room, looked to be exactly her size.

She walked over to the hole at the far side of the room, walking over to the corner and glanced inside.

The hallway down there was dark, but not too dark to make her feel uneasy about it.

She took off her backpack from her back and set it down on the ground, kneeling down in front of it.

Unzipping the zipper, she reached into the backpack with both of her hands and rummaging through it to look for something inside.

After a couple of minutes of rummaging through her backpack, she pulled out two white armbands with velcro elastic black leather bands and the symbol of an army group on opposite sides.

She carefully peeled the velcro off of the bands and carefully places them over the sleeves of her sweater, up to her forearms, and tightened the velcro, so that they both would not fall off while walking through the dark hallway in the wall.

After she placed them on her arms, she zips her backpack up from being open and put it back on her back.

She presses the black buttons at the end of her armlets, and they turned on after the click.

The color of the glow is a red color.

The glow from the armlets is shining down the darkness of the hallway through the hole.

Before she could go into the hallway in the hole, she glances over her shoulder, to the Medic Bay's doors, thinking to herself about the team members.

After a moment of thinking to herself, she glanced back at the dark hallway, sighing gently to herself.

She slowly entered the hole and disappeared into the darkness, as the light that shines her way fades away.

After she had disappeared into the hole in the wall, the Medic Bay's doors opened, revealing to be the Pyro.

When they noticed that she is gone, they muffled a soft, "Mhh…" as if they were sad that she had left the Medic Bay without anyone noticing.

They turned back around to the Medic Bay's doors, gently closing the doors behind their backs, leaving the room in silence.


	2. Chapter 1: The Scout

After a week has passed since the first encounter of the Medic that found her, the tiny girl has been hiding in the walls for a long time.

Sometimes she would avoid people walking down the hallway, or listen to their conversations from behind the walls.

She wants to trust them since the first time she encountered them and talks to them.

However, she does not feel like it is ready to talk to them.

Not ready to fully trust them.

So, she continued hiding behind the walls, avoiding people, and listening to their conversations.

After a while of listening to their conversations, she could tell from one's voice that they are a completely different person than what she expected.

She also overheard their names, so she knows some of their names, but not all to remember.

At nighttime, she sleeps at the spot she stops and waits until morning comes.

Figuratively speaking, until the Soldier wakes up and blows his military horn to wake people up.

It annoys people, but it does not bother her.

It feels like home to her.

But now, she is in a dilemma.

She was out adventuring in the garage, wondering what could be inside to look around.

To her own feelings, she feels like she is in a giant museum filled with different and gigantic objects to gaze up at.

When she heard something come in the garage, she quickly ran for a hiding spot, only to notice a space in between two crates.

So, she hid in between the crates, hiding away from the giant person coming into the garage.

When the person came into the garage, it was the Scout, as he was glancing around, sighing to himself.

In his right hand, he is carrying a baseball, as the bat for the baseball was missing.

She is lucky that he did not notice that she was hiding or in the garage with him.

He walked the other side of the crates, as she watched him walk, peeking out slightly out of her hiding spot.

The Scout laid down on the couch in the back of the garage on his back, as his legs laid on top of the couch's arm to the left, as his head was resting on the other couch's arm.

His left hand was resting on his stomach, as his other hand was tossing his baseball up in the air and catching it with his hand.

Since their first encounter in the Medic Bay, she imagines herself as the ball he is using in his hand, flinging her up in the air, catching her repeatedly, until she gets sick or wounded.

She shivers in fear from the imagination, forcefully pushing the thought away from her mind.

Glancing back up at the Scout, she noticed he was busy focusing on his ball than her, so she feels safe to go back to the hole she found.

But if she goes out in the opening, she would get caught by him in the corner of his eye.

So, she does not know if she should either move or stay put.

While she is patiently waiting for him to leave the garage, the summer wind from the open garage door gently started blowing into the room, causing the dust underneath her feet to kick up.

She sniffed some dust that made her allergies kicked in slightly, to make her sneeze, loud enough that he can hear it from the other side of the room.

"Achoo!" She loudly sneezed.

She gasped in fear and quickly covered her mouth with both of her hands, along with her nose.

She had accidentally made a loud noise.

The Scout stopped throwing his ball in the air after he had caught it in his right hand.

Her stomach clenches in fear as she moved deeper into the darkness in between the crates.

He had heard her sneeze!

The Scout sat up from his spot, glancing around for the source of the noise as she hid, wishing that he did not see her.

He luckily did not see her in her hiding spot as he glanced around.

Shrugging to himself, he lay back down on the couch, continuing to toss his baseball into the air and catching it repeatedly.

As for the frightened girl, she is relieved that he did not catch her, removing her hand from her nose and mouth.

Until she felt another sneeze coming.

Panicking, she tried containing her sneeze with her hands, but she sneezed again, except louder than the first one, without her hands covering her mouth.

"Achoo!" She loudly sneezed again.

He heard the sneeze again and caught the baseball in his right hand.

The Scout sat up from his spot and glanced around again.

This time he felt suspicious about the sneeze.

He turned his body around on the couch, as his feet were on the ground, standing up to his height.

She hid more into her spot as she watches him get up from the couch.

When he got up to his feet, he placed the baseball down on the table right next to the couch, as it stayed perfectly still in its spot.

As the Scout was glancing around to seek for the hidden person, she hid deeper into her spot, hoping he did not notice her hiding in between the crates.

But as she moved, he noticed the sudden change in the dust from between the crates in the left-hand side of the room's corner.

He frowned slightly to himself, thinking it is a mouse hiding in between those crates or someone tinier than him.

The Scout walked over to the crates, and soundlessly jumped on the box on the left-hand side.

After he jumped on the left crate, he waited patiently for the mouse to pop out from between the boxes and catch it with his hands.

As for the girl, she was busy recovering from her last sneeze to notice the Scout was right next to her on top one of the boxes on her left-hand side.

So, she absent-mindedly stepped out from among the boxes and into the opening.

After she stepped out into the opening, she was about to take off her backpack to get the tissues out, when something moved in front of her as she froze in her spot.

A shadow loomed over her, as she stopped in her spot, her right hand on her backpack strap to take her backpack off.

Frantic thoughts popped in her head to look up at who is in front of her, or to run away from the figure.

So, she bravely glanced up to recognize who or what it is standing in front of her.

When she looked up, she encountered a curious Scout that unexpectedly came closer to her instead of the couch, gazing down at her as he was, crouching down to see her closer, as he was standing on top of the crates.

And it was the same Scout she had met back in the Medic Bay.

She yelped in fear when she noticed the Scout in front of her and scrambled back in between the boxes.

When she ran inside, he quickly got down from the crates and went down to his knees while his left hand was on the ground, flat-palmed.

He reached through the small gap between the crates with his right arm and quickly grabbed her backpack on her back.

She yelped out again as she stopped, her feet dragging against the ground, as she was yanked back.

From behind her back, she could feel the Scout's middle finger against her back, as his entire palm was gently wrapped around her backpack.

He did not use too much strength to crush the objects inside her backpack.

Only to grab her backpack as if he was snatching a cookie.

'Got ya.' He thought to himself, after grabbing her backpack.

He cautiously and slowly started gently pulling her back to get her out of between the boxes, as she was dragging her feet to stop herself.

She was squirming so much that he could not carefully drag her out without accidentally hurting her.

So, he instead hoists her up from the ground to smoothly pull her out than dragging her.

She gasped when she was picked up, feeling the straps of her backpack on her shoulders lifted up along with her, as her feet left the ground.

She noticed his fingers were only attached to her backpack when she glanced over her shoulder again to see what he is doing, so she slipped out of her backpack straps.

After she slipped out of her backpack straps, she softly landed back down on the concrete ground and went deeper into the narrow hallway of the crates.

When she reaches the end of the hallway, she curled closer to the nearest corner there is, hoping his long thin arm would not grab her.

When he carefully moved his arm out of the narrow space that he was reaching through, he only saw her backpack in his hand except with the girl who carries it around.

So, he put her backpack into his left hand and placed it in his pocket on the left side of his pants.

He went back down on the ground as his left hand was on the ground, as his right arm reached back into the middle of the crates to get her out of her hiding spot.

"Come on, I'm not gonna hurt ya," he gently spoke.

She only replied with a whimper of fear as she scrambled backwards more into the nearest corner, moving out of the fingers' way.

Terrified to get caught by him.

As she was moving around, she was collecting more dust onto her body.

And during the process, her allergies started to kick up.

She felt another sneeze coming, so, she sneezed the third time in the row, loudly.

"Achoo!" she loudly sneezed.

"Gesundheit!" he remarked after she had sneezed.

He kept on reaching for her, not minding his arm is getting tired of extending out to her, so he continued to reach down the middle of the crates.

When he reaches the end of the gap, he felt one of his leading digits gently touched her chest.

She felt embarrassed about the touch on her chest, so, she gently slapped his first finger in embarrassment from the direct contact.

He felt the gentle slap from her, but it felt like a soft tap to him.

Noticing he might have touched an uncomfortable place, he moved his hand down to make things easier, while moving forward.

His face was close to the side of the crate, as his arm was in between the boxes.

After he had moved forward, his first finger touched her stomach as she gasped, clenching her stomach with her muscles to get away from his touching fingers.

He carefully wrapped his whole right hand around her, covering her entire body with his hand, except her head and legs, which are popping out from the top and bottom, as her arms were gently pinned to her sides.

She was caught and could not move any of her body parts to squirm right out of his hand.

The girl accepted her capture since there was no escape and let him pull her out from between the crates.

When she was out in the open, she was face to face with the Scout, as he was holding her inches away from his face.

She started trembling in fear as she was in front of his face, scared to death of him, as her pupils went inward.

He slowly stood up to his full height as he held the small girl in his hand as his legs were a little sore from crouching down to reach her from the crates for a while.

After he had stood up, he noticed she was covered head to toe with dust from hiding in between the crates.

She felt another sneeze coming, so she sneezed the fourth time.

"Achoo!" she loudly sneezed.

"Bless ya," He responded to her sneeze.

She jolted from the sound of his voice and started to cry.

"Hey, what did I say to ya?" He asked, sounding worried when she started crying.

She did not reply to him as she continued crying softly, as she sniffed a couple of times.

He noticed she was allergic to the dust, because of the slight cherry red face on her rosy cheeks and it was not from crying.

So he reached into his other pocket that does not have her backpack inside and pulled out a small white cloth from his pocket.

He gently wrapped it around his first finger with one hand and reached over to her with the finger that has the cloth covering.

She panicked when she noticed his finger through her tears, thinking the cloth is filled with sleeping liquid.

So she closed her tear-stained eyes, hoping this will end quickly, when she instead felt a gentle touch from him, on top of her dust-covered head.

She opened her eyes in confusion and glanced up in curiosity, to noticing he is actually gently wiping the dust off her from hiding in between the crates.

He was being careful with her as he gently cleaned the dust off her head, also wiping the tears off her cheeks too as she closed her eyes.

When he finished cleaning her face from being covered in dust and tears, he moved down to her body.

The Scout opened his hand from being wrapped around her body; she tilted his hand down as she is laying down on his palm.

She did not move as he laid her down in his palm, feeling scared if she stirs she would fall to her death after falling off his hand.

She felt mildly embarrassed about him gently touching her body without her permission, so, she instead lets him.

Worried if she gently slaps his clothed finger away, he might get furious at her for that.

After he had been done carefully wiping the dust off her body, the front and back, her hair was slightly staticity from the cloth he has.

She used her arms to brush her hair down as she is sitting in his palm.

He placed the cloth back into the same pocket where he had pulled it out earlier as she finished brushing her hair down.

The Scout then gently wraps his fingers around her body again, carefully changing the plane of holding her form to 90° angle, as her head, and arms were poking out from the top and her feet dangling down at the bottom.

She does not trust him, but she knows when to either run or to say something to him.

"Scout! Where the hell are you?!" the Soldier's voice suddenly yelled, startling both Scout and the girl.

The Scout glanced at the door on the other side of the garage, looking at whoever could be walking in the garage.

The girl started to panic as she gripped the Scout's bandages around his hand with her hands.

She could not be seen by another team member, because of the way how humans treat borrowers in her memory, remembering stories about them.

Before she could squirm out of his hand to escape from the Scout, and perhaps get a broken leg, when she was suddenly shoved into a dark and loose space, but deep enough inside to prevent her from crawling out of it.

She is shoved into his pants pocket.

There was no way to escape nor to crawl out of his pocket.

The cloth was underneath her body is cushioning her from being uncomfortable inside, from him walking or running to different places.

She felt like she is laying on top of a soft bed, despite that the cloth was covered in dust.

Luckily, the cloth was wadded up into a small ball, so she does not have the dust underneath her body.

As she was thinking of a way to get out of his pocket, she heard stomping feet enter the garage, as she immediately froze.

Those feet belong to the Soldier.

Deciding to stay inside his pocket, she curled into the cloth underneath her to make herself small, but listened to the conversation between the two.

"What is it?" she heard the Scout asked from above her body.

"Have you seen Lieutenant Bites?" she heard the Soldier demanded, walking up to him.

She shrunk more into the cloth as she quietly winced to herself, worried about being caught in a fight.

"No, I have not," the Scout replied.

She continued listening to their conversation, as she felt something gently place against her side.

The girl jolted from the sudden touch, thinking it was someone else.

But she relaxed somewhat when she noticed the feeling was from the Scout.

The female was shaking a little as she continued hearing the two of them chattering as the Scout's hand removed away from her.

By the opening of his pocket, she could slightly see the Scout is casually talking to the Soldier in front of him, not looking down at her as he continued talking to the Soldier, now have his arms crossed over his chest.

After a couple of minutes of talking, as she imagined herself getting pulled out from the Scout's pocket and shown to the Soldier, then to the entire team, used as a plush toy.

She shivers to herself as she forced the memory to go away.

But instead of getting pulled out of the pocket, she heard the Soldier's sigh, sounding like he is annoyed about something between their conversations.

"Fine, I'm going to check with the Medic if he knows where Lieutenant Bites is," the Soldier loudly replied.

"Alright then, find your little pet," the Scout sneered as the Soldier left.

She heard the Soldier turned his back around towards the Scout, heading for a different place, as the sound of his stomping feet fades away.

The girl shakily sighs and placed her hands on her chest.

As for the Scout, he watched as the Soldier stomps away from the garage room, entering the hallway and marched towards the Medic Bay.

He sighed in relief after the Soldier had left.

He gently placed a hand back to the trembling girl in his pocket, while he felt her jolt once more from the touch of his entire palm.

'Da Doc wasn't kiddin' 'bout da girl bein' traumatized.' He thought to himself, feeling a bit guilty of frightening her almost to death.

He glanced away from his pocket for a moment to check if the Soldier came back after asking the Medic for Lieutenant Bites.

When the coast is clear, he glanced away from the door, thinking of a way to calm her down from her fear.

If he takes her to his room, it will feel uncomfortable with having a tiny lady around.

But, she might also find things supposed to stay hidden.

Before he could give in, he noticed the sun was setting slightly over the visible horizon in the distance, as there was a single tree from the light.

The scenery gave him an idea from the view.

So, he reached back into the pocket he placed her in earlier, with his right hand.

He hopes she does not remember the last time he held her.

Inside his pocket, she noticed he was reaching for her again, so, she tried to move to the bottom of the pocket to escape from his fingers.

But they got to her and gently wrapped around her body, as she gave out a small and terrified whimper, feeling a little tight in the Scout's hand.

He carefully pulled her out from his pocket, and she was shaking uncontrollably from head to toe, fearing he might use her like a baseball or worse than what she is thinking of what he might do to her next after he has captured her.

As she was in front of him, her heart was beating fast as she was in front of his face, feeling worried and scared about what he might do to her.

Without warning, he gently pressed her up against his smooth chest and ran straight in the direction of the plain, towards a grassy hill in the distance, while carefully carrying the girl against his chest.

As he ran over to the grassy plain in the distance, she gripped two handfuls of his shirt he is wearing, worried if he trips, she might be squashed from underneath all his weight, or worse from him that she does not want him to do to her.

The Scout felt her grip his shirt, so, he steadily decelerated his pace, so she can feel safe.

When he reached the hill, he slowed down his running pace to walking.

After he went from running to walking, he stopped at the top of the grassy hill, as an acorn tree grew on top of the slope.

Being careful as he can, he slowly and carefully sat down underneath the tree and leaned back against it.

When he got comfortable, he glanced down at the girl on his chest, now not gently pressing her against his chest from the running.

She was still shaking slightly from her capture earlier, worried that he might be doing this so that she can be forced to believe in him.

So that he might torture her to death because of how small she is or makes her as an obedient slave for their deeds.

But, she began calming down slowly, realizing he is not doing anything rash to her.

Her trembling started to slow down a bit, slowly from his heartbeat that she hears from his chest.

It is well built like anybody's hearts would, but this pulse that she is hearing is rapid like a rabbit's or a hummingbird's.

'Whoa…' She thought to herself in amazement, as her cheeks were gently splashed with hints of pink. 'His heartbeat is strong… But isn't it dangerous for anyone's heart to be that fast after they drink or eat that much sugar? …Or is it because he exercised a lot?'

She was silent for a moment listening to his heartbeat, did not realize he was staring at her in confusion, wondering why she is quiet.

He thinks she might have fallen asleep from the feeling and the sound of his heartbeat, so he decided to pick her up from his chest.

She felt his fingers gently curled in slightly, and she panicked, moving her head up from his chest, believing he is going to pick her up roughly like a child would to a plush toy.

When he instead did not pick her up, but moved his hand away from her, as she laid there perfectly still.

"Oh, you're still awake." he softly spoke as she jumped from the sudden sound of his voice. "I thought dat you fell asleep."

She only stared at him with confusion on her face, confused about why he said that to her.

The girl expected yelling or anything that would scare her more, but this was unexpected.

He glanced up from her to the horizon and scooted up slightly, as she quickly grabbed two handfuls of his shirt.

"Hey," he spoke as she glanced up at him from her hands. "You're gonna miss this, look behind ya."

She gazes at him in confusion for a moment before deciding to follow his order.

So she slowly turned around, and glanced cautiously at where he was staring at.

When she looked behind her back, she saw the sun slowly setting over the horizon, making the sky into a beautiful pink, orange, and yellow mixture in the heavens.

The way of the scenery looked like one of the pictures her sister colored when she was much younger.

She was silent for a moment, as she gazed in awe at the gorgeous sunset, watching as it sets over the horizon.

The girl calmed down a bit, feeling relieved he is not going to hurt her.

But, the other half of her mind is saying fearfully, 'Why are you here?! He is going to squash you later, after the sun sets over the horizon! You should run for your life right now!'

The other half of her mind was saying to stay put until she knows what is going on.

So she decided to stay put, but alert for any sudden movements or sudden grabbing of his hands.

"Hey, are ya asleep?" the Scout quietly asked, gently tugging her away from her troubled thoughts.

She jolted slightly from his voice, suddenly asking her as she glanced at him from the sunset.

The girl only replied with a nervous look on her face, responding immediately to his question, "N-No, I'm awake! Just looking at the beautiful sunset…"

She went silent again after she had trailed off, glancing away from his gaze to the left side.

Nervous that he might kill her later, after the sunset.

But he felt suspicious about why she went silent after the blurted out her words.

She nervously chews on the bottom of her lip and quietly added, slightly ashamed at her worried outcry, "And, I'm just scared…"

He rose one of his eyebrows in confusion and asked, "Why are ya nervous?"

She glanced back at his eyes and answered, "I actually have not encountered a giant before in my life."

He felt more confused about her answer, so he asked, "How didja get small and how didja get here since you've never seen a giant before?"

She answered the question he asked about, "I can't remember how I shrank before I met you. The only thing that I remembered was I was running away from a machine that was chasing me in the forest, then I tripped over an uprooted root from a tree, then I slammed my head against something metal like on the ground, thus the injury on my head that your medic noticed earlier from our first meeting."

He fell silent for a moment, and she added, "And the reason that I'm jumpy and nervous all the time, is because I am also terrified of getting hurt or worse, killed by giants, too. I mean, giants to me could be dangerous, but I don't blame them. It's what they choose."

He was quiet as he stared at her, and she quickly added, worried about him thinking differently than what she was thinking of.

"I don't mean that all giants are mean, big and scary, I meant I'm scared to get hurt by them on accident. I don't know who to trust or believe in. Everything around me is new to me, and I was left alone in the Medic Bay without any warning. I was just waiting for the results." she continued, rubbing her left arm with her hand.

She sighed as she placed her right hand on the right side of her head, feeling the bruise on her head.

"I'm sorry, I'm a bit of a chatterbox, but…" she trailed off, thinking to herself of what else she might talk about.

He sat up slightly from against the tree behind his back, getting a bit comfortable from the previous position he was in.

She glanced up at him from looking away for a moment, looking a bit worried.

"So you're afraid dat we might catch ya and use you for somethin' against your will?" he asked, saying what she said in his own words.

"I guess," she nervously replied, glancing away from him again.

She looked at the sunset behind her back, as he thought her words on what she is feeling.

Reflecting on what he or his friends could do to her.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he decided to comfortable as his back was aching slightly.

So being careful, he adjusted his posture from where he was laying down earlier.

Before he could move, he remembers her on his chest as she was busy focusing on the sunset behind her back.

He stopped at where he was and reached over to her with both of his hands.

She turned back around in confusion when she noticed he was moving around slightly, deciding not to move to as he got up.

But then starting to move his hands forward to where she is, as she flinched slightly from the sudden appearance of his hands from each side.

He gently scooped her up from his chest onto his palms of his hands.

The girl did not squirm out of his hands from the sudden touch, so she instead stayed still, as she was lifted up to his face.

He went into a sitting position, as his legs were crisscrossed, as she was still laying on her front, waiting for him to stop moving around.

When he stopped, she got up from laying down in his palms, sitting up onto her knees.

"Listen pally, me or mah friends won't do any of dat to ya, and I'll promise ya dis, I'll keep ya safe from any harm, and make ya feel like home, 'til we get ya to your real home. Understand?" he gently huffed, sounding determined to keep her safe from any harm to her new size.

She oddly felt protected with him in his hands, so, she nodded her head and got up to her feet before wobbled from his soft spongy palms and landed on her bottom.

"Tryin' to stand?" he asked, with a lack of sarcasm in his voice.

"Nope, just trying to get to my bottom, which apparently worked," she explained. "And that was my first time to stand in someone's hands."

The Scout nodded his head, and she placed her right hand on his thumb as a way to tell him that she believes in him.

"I also believe in ya, Scout," she replied.

He softly chuckled while he got up to his feet, being careful with the passenger in his hands, as she gently tightened her grip on his thumb, a little worried about falling to the ground.

"Please, 'Scout' is mah nickname, mah real name is Jeremy Ciel, yours?" he introduced himself.

She softly chuckled and replied, happy, and relieved that she is not going to get killed by him after the sunset, nor from any of his friends, "Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen is my name, Jeremy!"

He gently smiled a bit, and she chuckled softly along with him, although slightly nervous about his trust towards her.

"Anyway, wanna go back inside?" She asked, jabbing a thumb back at the RED base. "I'll go into the same hole that I found earlier, and-"

She was cut off when he put her in his right hand and carefully placed her on his left shoulder, right near his neck where she can talk into his ear.

"Nu-uh. You're stayin' in mah room for da evenin'," he replied after she was placed on his shoulder, removing his hand from her.

Stephanie's cheeks blushed a rosy color in embarrassment.

"A-Are you sure about that, Jeremy," Stephanie stammered, feeling her cheeks heat up a bit.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he calmly replied, as he carefully stood up to his feet, and walked away from the tree, heading towards the RED base.

"But I respect other people's privacy," She sheepishly explained.

He glanced over at her in confusion about her sheepish reply.

"Ya respect other people?" He questioned in confusion.

"Yeah, I used to live with a mom and a sister. My poor Dad is the only male in the family," She answered, remembering her past and chuckling gently.

When he got to the garage door, he walked cautiously through the frame, looking out for anyone else from the team that might be waiting for him.

After the coast is clear, he walked over to the door and opened it, entering the RED base.

"So, do ya know where your family is?" he asked, with a bit of hope in his heart.

He sincerely hopes she is not alone and worried to encounter an outraged family that thought he shrank her to hand size if he takes her back.

She was silent for a moment, as she gently stroked the back of her neck with her left hand, as her other hand was holding onto his shirt's collar.

Stephanie only sadly answered, lying to him about her family, "I, unfortunately, can't remember that one either."

He felt remorseful for her, as she glanced away from him, with a hurt look on her face.

The Scout looked away from Stephanie and quickly glanced around for any of his crew members heading his direction.

Luckily, they are all asleep in their beds since it is almost dark today.

He carefully and quietly snuck into his room and quietly opened the door to his room.

His room is not that big, but large enough for his bed and cloth dresser to be inside for him to sleep and change his clothes.

"Well, dis is mah room where I sleep." he calmly spoke, breaking the ice between the both.

She glanced up from looking away and noticed his room.

At first, she did not want to sleep inside, but the warmth inside was attracting.

So, she allowed herself to be in his room.

He moved his right hand over to her and gently but carefully scooped Stephanie up from his shoulder and place her down on the table right beside his bed, right near a lamp.

After she had been placed on top of the table, he walked away for a moment, leaving Stephanie in confusion, until he absent-mindedly started taking off his shirt.

Stephanie went bright red as his shirt.

She grabbed the hood of her sweater and pulled it over her head, covering her face with it.

Embarrassed that she saw him change right in front of her!

She still has her hood over her face when she heard something set in front of her.

So, she peeked from underneath her hood by pushing it up slightly.

Stephanie saw her backpack in front of her, unharmed or smashed from his strength.

She thought he might have tossed it away in the trash since he took it off of her to escape from him, but it is in front of her without any signs that it was thrown in the trash!

Stephanie gently lifted her hood a little in confusion and in awe, until she glanced up slightly, seeing him without his shirt on, revealing his smooth and flat skin.

He is skinny like she noticed before, but he lacks any abs or muscles.

Stephanie's rosy cheeks went rosier than before, as she quickly pulls the hood over her face again, deeply embarrassed.

The Scout softly chuckles at her reaction of him half-naked.

"You did that on purpose, didja?" Stephanie asked, muffledly from underneath the hood.

"Maybe," the Scout mischievously replied, moving away from her to continue getting undressed. "Or maybe you're a little too shy."

"Oh, shush!" Stephanie scolded him, as the Scout softly chuckled.

Then, after a moment of silence again, she felt something gently tapped her head, so she slowly removed her hood, checking if he was still naked.

She bravely glanced up at him, and to her relief, he is now wearing a white tank top with black pants that reaches down to his ankles.

They are his pajamas to wear for the night.

"Best if ya change too. Ya wouldn't be sleepin' in your clothes for da night," he replied thoughtfully.

Stephanie recalled what he meant, so she stood up, before stopping herself, looking uncertain.

"Oh, I promise not to look at ya," he assured.

"Promise?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I promise." The Scout assured again.

She hesitated at first as she glanced away from him, but followed after her thoughts.

"Alright, I'm ready," she said, glancing up at him.

He nodded his head and glanced away from her, as she changed, although checking behind her back in case if he breaks her promise.

While she was changing without him looking at her, he thought to himself about her parents.

Who were they and where could they be?

Where could her brothers or sisters go, and who was there with her as she escaped into the lush forest?

And where was this forested part that she came from what she spoke of?

After a while of thinking to himself, Stephanie finished changing as she put her shirt over her body, glancing back at him as he was distracted.

"Jeremy?" Stephanie's voice gently pulled him from his thoughts.

"Hmm?" he replied gently, glancing back at Stephanie.

She is wearing a blue long-sleeved pajama shirt, with light navy colored pants that reach down to her ankles.

Her glasses, shoes, socks, sweater, and shirt were off and neatly folded to the side, along with her backpack, ready for the next day.

She looked cute wearing those pajamas in his opinion.

"So, uh, where could I sleep?" she sheepishly asked, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"In mah bed, of course," he answered, standing up fully from kneeling slightly to her height.

Her cheeks went rosy again like last time he said about staying in his room.

"Y-Yours?!" she softly exclaimed in shock and embarrassment.

He nodded his head, answering her question.

Stephanie glanced away from his gaze, looking embarrassed as her cheeks flustered.

"Are you sure about that?" she nervously asked.

He nodded his head again as he gently placed his right hand on the table for her to climb on top.

Stephanie hesitated for a moment before carefully climbed onto his palm.

When she sat down in the middle of his palm, that is still bandaged, he carefully lifted Stephanie up from the table, being careful from accidentally dropping her to the ground.

Just to be safe, she placed her right hand on his thumb, as he gently curled his fingers inward to be protected.

"Of course! I don't wanna see ya uncomfortable on da bedside," he remarked, lifting her up to his face.

"True." she agreed, sounding nervous. "It can be a little uncomfortable for me to be on the table."

He then placed her gently against his chest as a barrier for her to be protected.

When she was near his chest, she absent-mindedly gently leaned her head into his chest.

She felt normal, but a bit nervous and shy that she is sleeping in his bed.

Not only that, she feels safe, now that she is protected by him.

In the distance of her thoughts, she can hear his heartbeat.

It felt like a lullaby for her to automatically fall asleep.

He cautiously walked over to his bed and sat down carefully with the passenger against his chest as his hand was covering her back as a protective barrier.

When he sat down on the bed, he moved his legs into the bed sheets and with his left hand, he pulled the covers up to his waist.

After getting into his bed, he carefully laid on his back, his right hand still on Stephanie, as she winced, grabbing two handfuls of his tank top.

Then, he pulled the cover to his front, slightly covering Stephanie and half of his front.

Stephanie felt a little nervous, confused, and calm now that she is sleeping on someone's chest and on the bed!

But, the lullaby of his heartbeat made her feel sleepy and relaxing, so, she fell asleep, on his chest, distantly listening to his pulse.

He felt puzzled about why she was silent during the night.

Worried, he was going to ask her a question, when he heard soft and quiet snoring from his front.

He glanced down at his chest, noticing Stephanie was all curled up against his shirt in a small ball underneath his palm with the large blanket over her body, except her head.

She is sleeping peacefully on his chest, her handfuls of his tank top released and placed underneath her head, acting as a pillow for her to sleep comfortably.

Instead of feeling embarrassed, he instead gently smiled at her, feeling proud of himself to let her trust him slowly.

With the tip of his thumb, gently rubbing her back in a circular motion, while the rest of his hand is still wrapped around her body.

He placed his head back down on his pillow, after checking Stephanie if she is okay.

After a while of being in the room in silence, he too starts falling asleep.

Then, he fell asleep with her, being careful with Stephanie on his chest that is peacefully sleeping throughout the night with him.


	3. Chapter 2: The Soldier

The next day, the morning sun gradually rose from the horizon, shining serenely across the plain.

The sun serenely shines through the windows of the bedrooms of the wooden base, which is where the Scout's room is.

Inside that room is the Scout, lying still in his bed on his back, snoring quietly, while his right hand was on top of Stephanie's back on his chest.

She was comfortable and able to sleep without having to squirm around to get comfy, nor in her sleep.

After a minute passed, a military trumpet played in the distance of the wooden base, sounding like it was from the military campgrounds her Dad mentioned back at her home.

Stephanie was the first one to wake up from the sound of the horn.

She yawned quietly as she gently stretched out her arms and legs, being careful to not rouse him up by moving too much in his blanket-like hand.

Then she heard knocking from the door as she stiffens a bit, worried that whoever is on the other side of the door would open it and see her in the Scout's hand.

The Scout groaned awake from the noise as he twitched slightly.

He gently curled his fingers around Stephanie's middle as he was stretching out his body, yawning widely.

She stayed perfectly still as he moved her from his chest and placed her on his bedside table, as she went onto her knees, right next to his alarm clock.

Luckily he had it off when he got into the room.

The knocking continued to knock on the door, as he sat up slightly in his bed, groaning to himself and gently rubbing his left eye with the bottom of his left palm.

"Okay, okay!" he called out to the person knocking from the other side of the door. "I'm awake!"

The knocking stopped after he had called out to the knocking, and Stephanie could hear stomping feet left the door and down the hallway.

She felt nervous and worried about who was behind the door.

"Uh, Jeremy?" Stephanie asked, sounding worried.

"Yeah?" the Scout answered, glancing over at her, slightly dazed from getting up.

"Who was that at the door?" she politely asked, still staring at the door.

He glanced over at the door and answered, glancing back at her, "It was da Soldier."

She gently rose one of her eyebrows in confusion and cocked her head to the side, before remembering the moment when he was in front of the Soldier, screaming hysterically in front of his face about "Lieutenant Bites."

"Oh…," she remembered that man, before shivering in fear at the memory in her head. "He is scary."

"Yeah, but," he began, before pulling the covers off his body.

Stephanie got up to her feet on the bedside table she was carefully placed on top of.

"He's not dat scary if you get to know him." The Scout assured her.

"Are you sure about that?" she curiously asked.

"Yeah," the Scout shrugged his shoulders. "He might be scary and loud, but, he's just a guy dat sometimes throws a fierce temper fit when somethin's outta place or protectin' ya from somethin' he knows 'bout."

She picked up her glasses from the top of the pile of her clothing and carefully put them on her nose bridge, gently nudging them upwards into place.

"All right, if you say so." she sighed, before warning him, "But if I do get hurt from him-"

"I know, I know," he gently chuckled, interrupting her in the middle of her sentences, as he moved his right hand up as a way of stopping her. "You'll kick mah ass."

"Maybe," she replied gently, leaning down to get her blue jeans closer to her body. "That's maybe a maybe or a dependent."

Stephanie was about to start to get undressed when she glanced back at the Scout.

"Are you watching me?" she cautiously asked.

"Nah, I'm just gettin' into my own clothes." the Scout responded, as he has his back facing her and getting his shirt on.

She shrugged her shoulders and went back to change into her clothes, although she does not feel keen on changing in front of him.

This is the second time she had ever changed in front of an unfamiliar man than her father.

She politely ignored the thought of the social awkwardness and carefully placed on her bra and then, her other long sleeved blue shirt that reaches down to her hips, covering her privates.

She was going to put on her underwear, when she suddenly heard a voice spoke to her from behind, "Huh, you like blue very much, do ya?"

Stephanie yelped in startlement and turned around to the voice, as her cheeks are splashed with red.

She sees the Scout staring thoughtfully at her with a curious and slightly amused look on his face.

"You look like a smurf from that show Pyro watches." he softly chuckled.

Stephanie wanted to slap his face from the remark as she frowned in embarrassment, but she stopped herself from taking the chance.

She instead patiently waited for him to look away from her, as she stood there, not even budging an inch to get any clothes on.

He noticed the embarrassed look on her face and waited patiently for the yelling from her for staring at her rudely, but she instead waited with patience for him to look away.

He glanced away in slight confusion, wondering why she did not yell at him.

Stephanie sighed gently in relief that he does not have a phone with him, or else, it might get more embarrassing for her.

He got up from his bed, stretching for a moment, getting ready for the modern day.

She reached over and picked up her blue jeans, as her underwear was inside and put them on, buttoning it up in the middle and gently pulled up the zipper.

Them, Stephanie grabbed her shoes with her socks and placed them on, socks first and then shoes, after tying them a bit from being loose.

But before she could carefully put on her sweater, she glanced over her shoulder, to look at the Scout.

When she glanced over at him, she noticed him with his shirt off, instead of his pants and boxers, revealing his smooth back.

Now that she is not embarrassed to look again, she seems to be intrigued about why he hides his body.

"Huh," she spoke, breaking the ice in the air. "You have an interesting body, Jeremy. Such a shame that you hide it behind all of those clothes."

He stopped reaching for his red shirt on the bed after she spoke and instantly turned towards her, as his cheeks and the tips of his ears tinted slightly in a rosy red color from her remark.

She gently chuckled softly, amused at his reaction, as he huffed, the color on his cheeks still there.

"You did dat on purpose, didja?" he asked, repeating the same line that she spoke when he first changed in front of her.

"Maybe," Stephanie smirked, copying his word after she asked him the same question, turning back to her sweater, chuckling softly to herself.

He rolled his eyes after she had glanced away, went back to change into his uniform.

She tightened her belt around her waist, and reached down again and picked up her blue cameo sweater and put it on, zipping it up too, after moving her hood down and her hair from behind.

Then, she picked up her dark blue backpack and put it on her back, while thinking about the rest of the team members and how they are going to react about her roaming around in the base.

While she is pondering to herself, she finished getting dressed in her clothes and the Scout was done with his changing, but not wearing his hat yet.

He glanced back at Stephanie, who is not paying any attention to him, as she was busy thinking to herself.

An idea popped into his head, so, he reached back over to Stephanie, and he gently picked her up by gently wrapping his hand around her body, as her arms were poking out from the top.

He accidentally startled her as she yelped, snapping back into reality.

"Hey!" Stephanie cried out as she was moved away from the counter and towards his body. "What are you-?"

She stopped in her sentences when she was moved up to his head, landing front first into his hair, as she yelped again.

After landing on top of his head, she moved her head up after spitting out some hair strands from her mouth, before he placed his hat over her head, concealing her in darkness.

She noticed his hair was acting like grass, except brown and covered with fabric over her head.

Outside of his hat, the Scout has his dog tags around his neck by how the light tinking noise stopped, then his headphones, which made the top of his hat a little heavy.

He felt Stephanie moving around from underneath his hat, noticing she was confused, so, he reached up with his right hand, and moved his hat up slightly, as she pushed up, looking confused.

"Jeremy? Why am I on your head?" she asked, sounding confused. "Am I going to be safe here?"

"Sure, your gunna be safe." The Scout responded, assuring her as she glanced down at him. "I couldn't just carry ya around in mah pocket during the battle, hmm?"

Stephanie paused to herself from his reply before nodding her head slowly in agreement.

"Okay, true." she nodded. "But, couldn't I just stay here? I-I don't think I want to be out on the battlefield."

"And let some Spy enter here and steal ya, nope." he stubbornly declined, picking up his baseball bat carried from the ground, and putting it over his shoulder.

"There's Spies around here?" Stephanie shivered, imagining herself to get killed or kidnapped by one of them.

"Yep, there's two of them, and they both are assholes." The Scout continued, sounding irritated when he mentioned about the Spies.

Stephanie fell quiet as she thought to herself, feeling nervous in both ways.

Stay here and get kidnapped or killed by a Spy, or go with him and get killed on the battlefield?

So, she decided to go with him.

"Okay." Stephanie agreed as she gently grabbed two handfuls of his hair, but not too much hair to accidentally yank too much off. "I'll go with you, but please be careful."

He gently nodded his head in knowledge after she had agreed and moved his hat back down over his head, covering Stephanie as she went down to his head, laying perfectly still on her stomach.

The Scout walked over to his door, while Stephanie slightly tightened her grip on her handfuls of hair, nervous about falling off his head.

He unlocked his door to his room, as Stephanie carefully gathered another small handful of his hair, not too much to make him cry out in pain from the hair tug.

Stephanie felt him walk into a room and overheard him talking to someone else from the other side of the fabric of the hat.

"Yo, what's up?" The Scout spoke as Stephanie felt him gently nod his head.

He was not using too much of his nodding to make her either dizzy or sick.

"Good morning, Scout!" a gruff American voice greeted him, sounding precisely like the same voice she heard from the back in the base's garage.

"Yeah, mornin' to ya too, Solly," The Scout replied to his welcoming greeting to him.

'That must be that Soldier.' Stephanie thought to herself, as she shivered again at the memory again, reminding her of her father when he is angry.

She felt his body sat down on a chair while talking to the Soldier, teasing him a bit while getting some warnings from him.

Stephanie felt… like she is safe with him.

She was not in trouble nor in danger.

He was not using too much movement or head movements either, just talking to people.

Some of the voices sound familiar, but at the same time, some of them she does not know about.

Other voices piqued Stephanie's curiosity about whom the user belongs to.

She scooted closer to the Scout's head, to be more protected and hidden instead of on her hands and knees, feeling like she is a lioness, hunting for warthogs hidden inside the grass.

Except the grass surrounding her body is actually short brown hair of a human.

" _Mission begins in 30 seconds!_ " the same voice replied through the speakers, speaking through the fabric of the Scout's hat, alerting everyone outside including the Scout himself. " _The mission begins in 30 seconds!_ "

'War? Whom are they fighting against?' She thought to herself in confusion, glancing up slightly towards where she thinks is where the speakers are. 'Maybe those people in the other base?'

She felt the Scout stood up from the chair that he was still sitting on and walked for a few moments before Stephanie could hear guns clicking and something being sharpened.

'That must be a knife.' She thought to herself, before shivering slightly at the explicit image of her being stabbed.

Next, she heard the Scout picked up something metallic by the way the sound came from it.

It was a soft clunk when it gently hit against the metal locker, as there was some metal noise coming from it.

Stephanie guessed the noise was from a baseball bat, by how the noise dulled when it hits against something.

She remembered the first time she once held a baseball bat in her hands when she was much younger back then.

Stephanie did not like the tryout, but she did have a good catching and throwing hand when she throws the baseball.

" _Mission begins in 20 seconds!_ " the voice repeated through the speakers. " _The mission beings in 20 seconds._ "

He finished gathering his weapons and closed the locker's door, before walking away, heading towards a spot where he can charge out into the battle.

She mentally wanted to abort the mission, but she instead calmed herself down, assuring that he will keep her safe from anyone, any being, or anything.

After a while of walking, he stopped at a spot and got ready, as Stephanie clenched handfuls of hair in her hands.

It was not too tight, but just right enough to keep her intact.

" _Mission beings in 10 seconds!_ " the voice repeated through the speakers, counting down to the last number. " _The mission beings in 10 seconds._ "

After the speakers turned on again, the Scout stopped at a spot, and the voice on the other side of the mic started the countdown to zero.

Stephanie's heart was beating faster each minute has passed.

" _3, 2, 1, begin!_ " When the countdown finished, the Scout ran out of the door, heading towards the battlefield as Stephanie softly hissed nervously through her teeth.

He ran away from his spot as Stephanie gripped tighter, feeling more and more worried about falling off his head.

She felt him run for a long time, turning tight corners, stopping a few times, only to almost fall forward before placed her elbows to the sides to stop herself.

When he stopped again, she sighed in relief and glanced down at her hands.

Her knuckles turned white.

'Well… know I know why my sister hates roller coaster rides…' she thought to herself.

Suddenly, she overheard something whistling in the air, heading towards them.

She accidentally released the Scout's hair as she gasped, noticing that the noise was getting closer to them.

Before she could warn him about the noise, the object landed and exploded, causing the Scout to disappear, except his hat and Stephanie.

They both were tossed to the side, as Stephanie was giving out a startled scream, falling towards the ground.

She landed roughly on the ground front first, as she gave out an "Oof!"

After she had landed roughly on the ground, the Scout's hat covered her body, as she jolted from the sudden darkness.

Using her right hand, she gently lifted the hat up slightly to see what happened, only to see the Scout was gone!

'Oh, crap!' She cursed to herself, worried about being stuck in the battlefield, and to get killed by someone. 'I have to get out of here!'

Moving the hat down from looking, she pushed the hat upward on the top and started to run straight blindly, not knowing what's going on outside.

She thought she was heading for the wooden base to hide somewhere no one could find her, and no other people would either catch her.

But she went to the wrong base, without noticing that she was heading for the enemy's base.

After she had gone to the wrong base, she gently rose the hat up slightly to see her surroundings and noticed the place looked unfamiliar from the wooden base.

Everything inside was created in concrete and filled with new machines than built in wood and filled with old-fashioned devices than the wooden base.

Everything inside the other base perked her interest, but at the same time, confused her.

Where did she appear in?

She glanced around for a moment, curious about the base she accidentally wandered into, and what team is in this base.

After a moment of looking around, she suddenly heard footsteps walking towards where she is and gasped quietly in fear when she realized what they were.

Someone is in the base now!

Panicking, she carefully placed the hat back over her body and zipped underneath a table.

Once she got underneath the table, she peeked from underneath the hat slightly, to see who is inside the base.

When the footsteps got closer, she ducked a bit down as she watched a pair of boots walking in front of the table, before stopping.

Her breath hitches as she patiently waited for the figure to go away, as the boots stayed as they were.

Daringly, she decided to see who the figure is, so she moved the hat up slightly, only to see the same person in front of her.

The Pyro!

She was about to duck underneath the hat when she saw the figure in front of her, but something else caught her attention that stopped her from hiding again.

The Pyro was wearing blue, not red.

She remembered back in the Medic Bay that she encountered the Pyro that is wearing red, which terrified her, but they did not cause any harm to her but muffledly asked the Medic questions.

Somehow, she felt rather calm around the Pyro wearing red, but she does not know if the Pyro standing in front of her wearing blue would react the same way the other one did.

Her stomach twists nervously from the thought of being caught by the Pyro standing in front of her and get immediately killed.

Or mistaken as one of theirs since she is wearing blue.

After the Pyro in blue glanced around for a moment, checking for anyone that is dressed in red, they left the spot where they were standing at and went somewhere else.

They turned the corner down the hallway and walked into another corridor, as the distant smell of charcoal trailed behind from its back.

After the blue gas-masked figure left, she gently sighed in relief after they disappeared, as her stomach untwists.

She carefully walked out from underneath the table she was hiding underneath and glanced side to side for any incoming people dressed in blue.

After checking around, she carefully placed the Scout's hat back over her body and continued to walk cautiously down the hallway.

She did not notice she was walking the wrong way down the hallway towards where she thinks the exit is.

As she walked down the hallway, she suddenly slammed into something hard that caused her to fall backwards.

She collapsed on the ground on her bottom underneath the Scout's hat and winced from the impact, rubbing her face with her right hand as her glasses were tilted off to the side.

After she had rubbed the feeling off her face, she suddenly overheard a familiar gruff American voice replied, "Hmm? What's this?"

She started to panic after she heard the voice spoke and was about to get up to her feet when the Scout's hat suddenly picked up from around her body.

She glanced up to see whoever is in front of her, only to notice another man, except wearing a blue uniform, instead of red.

He was dressed in the same color as the Pyro.

And it was a Soldier like the other one that she saw back when she first saw the Scout!

In his right hand was a shovel, as it was covered in fresh blood.

It instantly made her go into flight mode when she noticed both the smell of blood and the sight.

Panic flowed into her veins, as she gave out a panicked yelp, quickly scrambled up to her feet as she turned the other way, trying to escape from the Soldier.

As she ran, she overheard something tossed to the side, so she glanced over her shoulder while in a running pace, noticing the Soldier is grinning wickedly, with a smirk of amusement, as the Scout's hat was tossed to the side.

She continued running fast as she can manage as she glanced back in front, escaping from the giant Soldier, as he held up his shovel in his hand, ready to attack her when he is closer to her.

"Come back here, you rat!" he bellowed out at her, as he got closer to her.

That made Stephanie run faster than before.

She suddenly tripped and fell onto her front, luckily was not chipping a tooth during the process.

Before she could scramble up to her feet, she heard something thwacked across something, making a dull noise along with a crack.

She jolted from the sudden noise from behind her back, and before she could look at what made that sound, something massive struck the ground, causing it to rumble from underneath her body.

She glanced over her shoulder to see what that landed on the ground, only to notice the Soldier's corpse on the ground.

Noticing someone was over the corpse, she glanced up at the figure, only to see the other Soldier.

The same one that she saw earlier with the Scout back in the garage.

In his hand was another shovel, decorated in fresh blood from the dead Soldier underneath him, and the front of his uniform coated with dark red blood.

All the color on her face drained when she saw the Soldier.

He sighed after he had killed the other Soldier, stepping over the corpse and repositioning his uniform, although covered in blood.

The Soldier glanced up once, before twice, noticing a scared Stephanie on the ground, shaking from head to toe.

After a moment of staring at each other, as she was staring at him filled with fear, as she was shaking from head to toe.

Without warning, he marched right over to her, as she hastily scrambled up to her feet to escape from him, when he quickly knelt down to her and wrapped his hand around her body, as her arms were out of the top and her legs pinned together.

After he grabbed her into his hand, oddly without hurting her and lifted her up from the ground.

Her stomach twisted again nervously as she watched the Soldier, not even thinking that he could actually see her from underneath that helmet of his.

Just as she was eye to helmet with him, she felt like she was going to pass out in his hand.

But she instead tightened her grip on his hand, worried about being killed, stomped on, ripped, or anything that could kill her.

She was hyperventilating as she started back at the Soldier, her heart beating as the knuckles of her hands were turning white.

He stared thoughtfully at her for a moment, as she was nervous about what he could be thinking of.

Without a single word, he carefully placed her in a pocket of his pants, and she tumbled deep inside.

She frantically thought of another way to get out of the overwhelming problem that she has gotten herself into.

Outside of his pocket, the Soldier looked slightly worried from underneath the helmet that he is wearing, instead of a dominated look that he had captured a "team member that is dressed in blue."

The speakers turned on after a clicking noise came before it, and the Soldier glanced up from his pocket, and the voice called out, " _You failed!_ "

The Soldier sighed in relief after the call of the victory, knowing they had won the battle.

He marched out of the concrete base and headed directly back toward the wooden base.

He entered the base and walked right by the Scout, without his hat on.

The Soldier noticed he looked worried, as he ran past him, heading back outside.

Looks like he left his hat outside after he was eliminated from a missile.

He continued walking down the hallway until he approached towards a door, that has a missile symbol above it, that matches the same logo of his uniform.

The Soldier unlocked the door and entered the room.

Inside the room looked almost like the Scout's room, with the clothes dresser and the bed in the same position, along with the size of the room.

But the decoration inside the room is different than the Scout's.

An American flag is hanging on the wall above his bed, with the window right next to his bed.

On the left-hand side of his bed on the wall, is a shelf filled with magnificent trophies of military goals with medals hanging on the walls too.

On the table on the other side of the room, is another helmet, except this one has a green ribbon around it, with a visible bullet hole on the right side of the temple, piercing through the thickness and has black straps to hold the helmet down on the user's head.

He walked over to another table than the other one with a different helmet on top and reached back into his pocket that has Stephanie inside.

When Stephanie noticed his fingers were reaching back into the pocket that she is inside, she panicked and curled herself back towards the bottom of the pocket, trying to escape from the fingers that are reaching for her.

Unfortunately, they reached close to her, and when they are too close to her for her comfort.

She gently slapped one of the fingers that was getting too close to her body with her right hand, and the man outside of the pocket felt the direct slap from her on one of his fingers.

Instead of noticing the slap from her, telling him that it was too close for comfort, he continued reaching for her.

When he is close to her that he can fully feel her against his palm, he gently and oddly carefully wrapped his entire hand around her, carefully lifting her out of the pocket that she is inside, while hearing a muffled yelp from her.

After he had lifted her out of his pocket, he noticed that she was trembling from head to toe.

Kneeling down on one knee, he knelt down to the table's height so that he could see her easier without having to lean over a bit.

He placed his left palm right next to his right hand that has Stephanie inside, as his left acted like a wall for her to lean against.

He opened his right hand to let her out, as she tumbled on the table, as some of her long brown hair covered her face, as she has both of her hands on his left palm.

Using the thumb of his right hand, he gently moved some of her hair from her face, only to see something that made him feel completely worried.

She was crying.

Her cheeks were rosy red, as tears were streaming from her eyes and staining her cheeks while shaking horribly from head to toe.

She was not making any eye contact with him as she was facing down at the table's surface.

He frowned thoughtfully, not very much, as she watched her crying horribly.

Being careful as he can, he gently moved his hands in, startling her slightly as she glanced up at him, eyes filled with fear as her glasses were fogged.

"Hey, what's wrong?" the Soldier gently asked, in an oddly low voice.

The seriousness in his voice was replaced with a slightly worried tone, and his right hand was near her body in case she was not calmed down.

The Soldier is not shouting either, but if he did, he would make her deaf.

She did not reply at first until she mustered the courage to speak, but stammered, "P-Please don't h-hurt me…"

He gently moved his right thumb towards her again while she was not looking.

When she noticed something was moving towards her from the corner of her eye, she glanced to the left side, seeing his thumb almost close to her face.

She whimpered in fear as his thumb got close to her face, so she glanced away, thinking that he was going to smash her into nothing or snap her neck easily like a twig.

When the tip of his thumb touched her cheek, she mentally prayed to herself that all of this will end sooner or quickly.

Instead, he gently wiped one of the tears away from her face, without accidentally breaking her glasses.

After he had wiped one of the tears away from her face, he slowly moved his right hand away from her sides and stood up from kneeling down on one knee, as his left was still letting her lean against it.

When she noticed he was standing up, she moved her hands away from his palm, as she sat up straight, still crying, though.

After she had moved her palms, he moved his left hand from her, as she sat there, halfway kneeling.

To stop herself from shaking, she placed her hands on her forearms, as she still has her head staring down at the surface of the table, shakily breathing in and out of her mouth.

While she was focusing on her focus to stop shaking, she overheard something being ruffled and glanced up from looking down at the table's surface, noticing the Soldier was looking somewhere for something.

After he had looked around for a moment, he sighed and reached up to his head, underneath his helmet and gently scratched the back of his head, revealing bits of short brown hair, not like the same hairstyle as the Scout, but different than his hair color.

She still does not see his eyes from underneath the helmet of his since he is facing back toward her with his back, facing towards his stuff on top of his desk or his cabinet.

She shakily glanced around for a moment before noticing what he was looking for.

The Soldier is looking for tissues for her to wipe her tears away, along with blowing her nose.

They were on the other side of the Soldier, right beside the helmet that the Soldier is not wearing.

He glanced back over to Stephanie and noticed she was staring off in the distance, so he glanced over at what she is looking at.

The Soldier noticed the tissue box where she was staring at and carefully pulled out a single tissue, without accidentally ripping it.

By how the tissue looked, it looked like a big blanket that Stephanie had years ago back at her home.

He walked back towards her, oddly not stomping his feet from earlier in the morning when she was with the Scout and gave her the piece of tissue to her.

She watched as he gently reached out to her with his right hand with the piece of tissue in his palm, feeling scared at first.

So she hesitated for a moment.

But, gathering some of her courage, she gently took the tissue from his hand.

After she had taken the tissue out of his hand, she shakily sighed as she shook uncontrollably in fear.

"There, that isn't that bad, is it?" the Soldier softly asked, as she glanced up at him.

She slowly nodded her head in agreement with his question and took her glasses off with her left hand.

With her right hand, she gently wiped her tears away with the massive tissue in her hands and blowing her nose.

She is still worried about his trust towards her, trying to generously help her and slowly calming her down from her trauma.

Although he did save her from that other Soldier.

Yet, she does not feel right about being in the hands of a Soldier instead of the Scout's that she trusts.

She placed her glasses back on her face, although she is still crying, she has the tissue in her hands to wipe the tears away.

"All right, there is one question I want to ask you;" he softly spoke, while grabbing a spare chair of his in the room.

She glanced up at him from the tissue in her hands, her cheeks still rosy, and her tears smeared.

He sat down on his chair that he grabbed and placed his hands next to her, although she flinched a bit.

"What were you doin' in the BLU's base?" he asked, as he gently curled his fingers around her back.

She was silent for a moment, thinking to herself about why he is being gentle to her than what he was acting before, screaming at other people, stomping his feet, and ordering people around.

So, she shakily replied, answering his question, "I-I got l-lost on the battlefield after J-Jeremy accidentally dropped m-me on the ground from his head underneath his hat a-after he was shot from someone o-or from s-something."

The Soldier listened to every word of her explanation and sighed gently, slightly annoyed at the Scout.

"So, Scout brought you on the battlefield?" he gently questioned.

"Yes," she answered, now slightly scared that he is going to get angry at Scout for bringing her on the battlefield.

The Soldier sighed again and placed his right hand on top of his helmet, looking slightly annoyed.

"Next time you're with Scout, tell him that you want to stay inside his room, instead of goin' to the battlefield for recent ones like you," he gently replied.

"I tried to tell him that but he told me about the spies that lurks from the other base, and was worried about me being kidnapped by them," Stephanie responded, although shaking a bit in fear.

The Soldier went quiet after she spoke and gently sighed the third time in the row.

"A-And he was just worried about me g-getting hurt from any of the BLU team members if I were left in that r-room. I-I'm really sorry for nearly getting hurt in your way." Stephanie added, stammering a bit in her words as she spoke.

"No, it's okay. I was actually saving you from that guy," the Soldier assured, trying his best to calm her down.

He has never met anyone that is this emotional, so, he does not know how to calm her down.

So, he is trying his best to calm her down.

Stephanie shakily sighed in relief that she is not going to get killed, because of getting in the way, and the Soldier felt more curious about her.

"Has Scout talked to you about your size?" he asked, remembering the Scout talking to him earlier before the fight.

He was talking about what if someone smaller than him came across anyone else, what would that person do or would hurt that person for no good reason.

It confused him because of Scout's strange behavior.

"Yes, he did talk about it a couple of times to me…" she slowly responded, not stuttering in her sentences. "Did he tell you about me?"

"No, he didn't." the Soldier answered. "He only asked about meeting someone what is small like you. Not about you directly."

Stephanie mentally felt a little glad that he did not ask him about her in general, but felt a little hurt that no one could or would hurt anyone like her.

She shakily stood up on the table, deciding to stretch out her legs from being cramped.

The Soldier held out his hand out to her with his palm up as a platform for her to travel with him.

"Best if ya stay with me. I don't want to lose ya to any creatures or any other person that wants to harm ya," he replied gently, steadily holding his hand out to her.

She slowly nodded her head to his reply and stepped cautiously onto his hand while holding the tissue in her hands.

Just in case of crying again.

He carefully lifted her up from the table and turned around to the desk and carefully placed her on top, as she landed on top of it, sitting down on her bottom as she crossed her legs into criss-cross position.

After she was placed down on the table, he moved away from Stephanie as she glanced away, to change his clothes since they already did war.

Stephanie glanced over to her left, to not look at the Soldier, before noticing the helmet right next to her and the visible bullet hole too.

"Uh, mister? Whose helmet is this?" she asked while pointing at the helmet, glancing back at him.

He glanced over his shoulder to her and noticed the helmet on the desk right next to her and was quiet for a moment.

"It used to belong to a friend of yours?" she asked, trying to change the subject from the helmet.

He still is quiet after she asked a different question.

Stephanie started to slightly panic, thinking that she must have hit the wrong spot to ask a question about him.

"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't ask you that question." she apologized, stammering a bit.

Maybe she pushed it a little too far than what she expected.

"I'm usually curious about new things or new people. As usual, 'curiosity kills the cat.'" she replied gently with a sheepish chuckle as she shrugged her shoulders.

"'And saves the dog.'" the Soldier mumbled underneath his breath, finally speaking.

They were quiet for a moment before the Soldier sighed the fourth time and took off his helmet, revealing short brown hair, in a military buzz cut.

"If you want to know who that helmet belongs to, you have to be awake to listen to stories," he spoke. "Usually, whenever I tell stories to people, I dull them that made them either yell out 'boring' to interrupt me, or fall asleep, or pretend to listen to me."

Stephanie nodded her head thoughtfully, feeling curious about his story of the helmet.

"S-Sure." she stammered. "I would like to listen to your story. And I'll stay awake."

From the corner of the Soldier's mouth, he smiled a bit when she said she would love to listen to his story, but before he could turn around and talk to her, the door slammed open, startling Stephanie as she jumped.

From the door frame, it revealed to be the Scout, with his hat in his left hand, and a worried look on his face.

"Soldier! I-!" he stopped in his sentences when he noticed Stephanie on the table, staring back at him as the helmetless Soldier looked like a deer in the headlights.

"You found her?!" he exclaimed in shock and relief. "Oh, thank god!"

"Yes? Why?" the Soldier asked in confusion, as he turned slightly towards the Scout.

From Stephanie's view, she noticed he had steel-blue eye color.

But, she guessed the other eye was in a different color, which piqued her curiosity.

"I was worried she might get killed by one of da BLU bastards back on the battlefield!" The Scout exclaimed, walking into his room, without closing the door behind his back.

"You dragged her ass on the battlefield!" the Soldier roared in anger as he pointed at him with his right hand, as he placed his helmet back on his head with his other hand.

Right now, Stephanie feels uncomfortable in the room between two loud and arguing giants.

She shakily stood up to her feet while the two were busy arguing at each other about her, not even noticing she was leaving the two.

Stephanie glanced down in her arms with the tissue, so, she gently folded it like a blanket and placed it down on the desk in front of her.

She glanced over at the helmet right next to her with the visible bullet hole on the side of the temple and sighed gently.

'Maybe, later I can listen to the Soldier's tale.' She thought to herself, sighing gently in sadness.

She glanced down at the ground, noticing how high up in the air she is.

Stephanie shivered to herself from the image of jumping off the table and landing on the ground, breaking both of her legs or an arm.

So, she stepped back and looked around for a moment, searching for a way down to the ground.

Then, she noticed there were nicks along the side of the drawer of the Soldier's desk, and they were deep enough for her to hook her fingers onto and climb down to the ground safely.

She positioned herself after placing a foot on one of the nicks and slowly climbed down to the ground.

Stephanie slipped a couple of times but did not fall after her foot or hand slipped.

When she reached close to the ground, she carefully jumped down, landing on her feet, as her right hand acted as a pillar to stop herself from falling over.

She stood up from a landing position and walked towards the open door.

Before she left, she had heard something in the argument about her that made her terrified and overwhelmed.

"It wasn't mah fault dat I almost got her killed!" The Scout exclaimed, defending himself from the Soldier's rage.

"'Almost got her killed' my ass! You dragged her to the battlefield!" the Soldier roared.

"I was tryin' to keep her safe from the spies!" The Scout defensively yelled. "You know they lockpick the locks!"

Someone came from down the hallway and headed towards the room, as a voice snapped in the distance, "Vhat on earth es going on here, Soldier?!"

Stephanie is now terrified to be in the argument.

She rapidly ran out of the Soldier's room and went past the Medic, as he was walking towards the room, as she zipped through the hallway, with tears in her eyes, and fogging her glasses.


	4. Chapter 3: The Pyro

Stephanie continued to cry uncontrollably in the spot of where she is.

She is facing back first towards the corner she randomly found while running through the hallway, and decided to stop to take a break.

She was silent as she cried uncontrollably through the countless hours, her legs up to her face, as her hands were on her face, weeping silently to herself as her head is down as her hood was over her head to conceal her face from other unfamiliar people that are walking in the hallway.

While she was crying quietly to herself as the minutes went by, she slowly soothed herself down, calming herself from the arguing, and telling herself that the Soldier was maybe angry at the Scout for doing something rash to her.

She gently wiped one of her tears on her rosy cheeks with her right hand, at the bottom of the palm with her sweater's sleeve on her palm, while moving her glasses up slightly along with it.

After she gently wiped the tear off of her cheek, the speakers of the entire base suddenly turned on, as the voice called, " _Mission begins in 30 seconds. The mission begins in 30 seconds._ "

Panicking, she quickly stood up to her feet after the call ended, worried about being killed by a BLU team member.

Since her encounter with one of them, she has been terrified of being on the battlefield.

She ran down the hallway of the base to look for that hole that she has been through a couple of times while she was wandering around in the RED base.

While she was running through the hallway, she kept an eye out for any wandering team members that could accidentally step on her.

" _Mission begins in 20 seconds. The mission begins in 20 seconds._ " the voice repeated through the speakers of the base, grabbing everyone's focused attention towards the job.

Terrified, she frantically searched for that spot in the walls to hide from the incoming BLU team members, wondering where it is.

Or maybe someone already covered up the hole?

Before she could lose hope, she noticed a spare hat that was lying around in the base, without anyone else looking for it to cover their heads with.

So, she rose the hat up from the ground slightly for her to go underneath, and went underneath, hiding from the team members that are coming through the hallway to their lockers to get ready for the battle.

After she went underneath the hat, she lifted it up from underneath and started to run away, heading towards where she thought would be the Soldier's room, since he is not arguing with the Scout anymore.

As she continued walking down the hallway, until she accidentally turned a corner, and went past the Soldier's door, and headed outside.

" _Mission begins in 10 seconds._ " the voice spoke, sounding like it is echoing around her. " _The mission begins in 10 seconds._ "

She stopped in the middle of the plain, noticing the sudden change of the voice, as she looked confused from underneath the hat.

Deciding to walk for a moment, she took a couple of steps, until she heard the ground underneath her softly crunched like the familiar sounds of the dirt.

She glanced down at the ground to see what she is stepping on, only to notice that it was covered in dirt, instead of wood like the RED base.

Stephanie stopped at her spot for a moment, thinking to herself for a moment, before gasping quietly to herself, glancing back up to the surroundings.

Lifting up the side of the hat, she looked at where she wandered off to, only to notice that she went into the middle of the plain, with no one else around.

'Oh, crap!' She cursed to herself in her mind, now knowing why the speakers were echoing when she was walking blindly.

Stephanie thought that she was heading for the Soldier's room, but know that she noticed that she went the wrong way, she is panicking.

'I'm going the wrong way! That what's wrong about the ground!' she whined.

She quickly let the hat falls over her body and started to run the right way, before pausing and going the wrong way.

As she was going the wrong way, the voice started to count down to zero, " _3, 2, 1, begin!_ "

'Crap!' She cursed to herself in her thoughts to herself. 'I gotta hurry!'

She sped up her pace and ran straight towards the wrong way again, where she thought the way to the Soldier's room is.

Stephanie quickly headed for the wooden bridge that leads back to the RED base and accidentally went into a different part of the RED base.

When she glanced down at the ground, noticing the concrete underneath her shoes, she gently sighed to herself, relieved to be back on pavement instead of the dirt.

She continued walking towards where she thinks the Soldier's room is until she accidentally bumped against something hard, but as well as fleshy as a soft pillow.

After she went into the object, she toppled backward after the impact and landed bottom first on the ground from underneath the hat.

She groaned softly to herself in pain from the impact, a slight pain came from her nose, as her glasses were tilted to the side.

"Hmm?" a voice softly spoke from above her, as she tenderly rubbed her nose with her right hand.

She stopped when she heard the noise, feeling both confused and scared at the same time.

Before she could lift the hat up to see what is in front of her, something invisible picked up the hat from around her.

She tensed up as she froze, noticing that whoever was in front of her is actually lifting the hat up.

The smell of cigarettes went into her nose, catching her from her problems and towards the odd and familiar scent.

'What is that smell?' She thought to herself, as she slightly scrunched her nose in disgust from the smell. 'Grandma Smoky that I know of, back in Utah smokes too.'

Deciding to see who is in front of her, she glanced up at the figure in front of her, only to see nothing.

Confused, she glanced down at the ground in mild curiosity to see who or what is standing in front of her, only to notice a mysterious shadow in a shape of a man standing right in front of her, as something was reaching over towards her, as if to pick her up from the ground!

Panicking, she scrambled up to her feet from falling over to her bottom from the sudden impact of the object and ran straight towards the table, where she can hide underneath without getting grabbed by that mysterious figure that was reaching down for her.

After she went underneath the table, she heard a soft mutter of something in French, as she was shaking slightly in fear from that sudden figure that was just starting to reach down for her.

Stephanie watched as the shadow started to move towards the front of the table, as she softly gasped, concealing her mouth with both of her hands, to not squeak out in fear or to cry out.

She watched as the shadow moved slowly towards the front of the table, looking closer from where she is.

Stephanie was shaking from head to toe as she watched, her hands covering her mouth from crying or yelling out to the figure to go away.

She is terrified of being captured by someone and getting killed.

For a minute of hiding, the visible silhouette of the person was carefully searching for her, as she hid in the darkness of the corner, mentally praying to herself that whoever or whatever this being could be, that it could not see her and catch her.

Just as things started to get worse for her as the mysterious figure got closer, a new odor hits her nose, and it was the familiar scent of charcoal, mixed in with the smoke smell from in front of her.

The BLU Pyro!

Now in a tough decision to escape from a BLU Pyro that is heading towards where they are and someone invisible that is looking for her, she decided to take her own risks.

She glanced around the area of where she is, looking for a way to escape from the invisible person, and a spot to hide after escaping.

When she noticed the left-hand side of the table is not surrounded by the mysterious shadow, she decided to take the risk.

So, she quickly ran straight towards the left-hand side of the table, coming into the opening as a different colored blur of blue colors in a unique mix.

As she ran, she heard a loud male's voice, thick with a French accent, cried out in startlement when she came out from underneath the table, "Sainte merde!"

Ignoring the sudden outcry of the mysterious being that just exclaimed in shock when he or she immediately noticed her, running straight towards the hallway, to escape from the invisible person.

After she escaped from both of the figures, the smells from both of them fading away until she collided into something soft, but rubbery and thick.

She landed on the ground again on her back, wincing to herself as she covered her nose in pain with both of her hands, as her glasses were almost toppled off from her face.

Stephanie closed her eyes as she winced to herself without noticing who the figure she went into is, softly groaning to herself.

After regaining some strength to ignore the pain, she heard a muffled, "Mmm?" from above her.

That voice sounded like the BLU Pyro.

Her heart started to beat quick as the pupils of her eyes went inward, and started to tremble from head to toe.

Slowly, she gently moved her hands from her face, luckily is not bleeding from the direct impact of the rubbery feeling.

Stephanie slowly sat up to her bottom, noticing the same pair of boots, before glancing up at the figure, luckily a RED Pyro instead of the BLU Pyro, staring down directly at her, obtaining a flamethrower in their hands.

She froze in her spot, now terrified to move to get up and run the other direction.

The Pyro did nothing in front of her, just staring down at her, does not know if the figure is either confused or thinking of a way to kill her.

Panicked thoughts entered her mind, her mind screaming at her to move away from this being, and to watch out from being burnt to a crisp.

Before either of them could make a move, footsteps walked towards them, as she flinched, thinking that the noises are from the same invisible figure she encountered.

Each footstep made the ground shake from underneath her, as she glanced over her shoulder to instead see the BLU Soldier, seeing the RED Pyro in front of her, as it glanced up.

He gave out a mighty roar, almost making Stephanie jump from the sudden noise and charged at them while holding a shovel in his right hand up in the air.

A short and surprised muffle came from the Pyro in front of her, as they quickly ducked from the first swing of the shovel, instantly dropping their flamethrower to the ground, and placing both of their hands on the ground.

It was almost too close to Stephanie for comfort, as they were staring at her through the lens, as she thought that she pissed herself.

She decided that right now is the right time to move!

Scrambling up to her feet, she shakily got up and moved away from the Pyro, before something stomped right next to her, causing her to jump back away from the stomp, landing side first on the ground.

She was almost stomped on by the BLU Soldier.

Annoyed about the lack of carefulness around with Stephanie, the Pyro quickly grasped something from behind their back when they rose up from ducking, while the BLU Soldier got ready to strike the Pyro again with the shovel.

Instead, they jumped back after the shovel missed and took out the weapon on their back, revealing a handmade fireman's ax, wrapped with barbed wire that is holding it together on the handle.

They swung at him with the handmade ax, as he blocked the attack with his shovel.

Scared, she moved away from the two fighting giants by using the palms of her hands and the heels of her shoes, before shakily got up to her feet.

When she got away from the two, she turned around on her heel and ran as fast as she can, without looking behind.

Suddenly, she tripped over something on the ground, landing face first on the ground, with a muffled thump!

After she fell on the ground, she was about to get back up to her feet again, when something huge crashed on the ground from behind her back.

She glanced over her shoulder to see the fighting, but she instead saw the Pyro, standing above the BLU Soldier, with their right foot on top of his helmet, as he was shouting fiercely at them, and cursing at them with extremely foul language that she dares not to repeat herself.

They irritably sighed as they rolled their "eyes" from behind the mask's lens, annoyed at the stubbornness of the BLU Soldier.

As they were looking out of the hallway, they noticed Stephanie on the ground, inches away from both of them, as she looked at them with terrified eyes.

Instead of getting ready to kill her next, after killing the cursing BLU Soldier underneath their foot, they instead presented a concerned look from underneath the mask, while gazing thoughtfully at her with the black lens, as an "Mmmh." came from them.

She looked confused after they replied like that, as she felt a little confused, but still terrified about what could happen to the BLU Soldier.

Before they both could say something, the BLU Soldier regained enough strength to push the Pyro's foot up from their head, as they gave a puzzled "Mmm?" noticing the sudden movement underneath their feet.

Suddenly, the BLU Soldier grabbed the RED Pyro's mighty ax with is right hand, startling them from being distracted with Stephanie.

They tried to pull their ax away from his grip, but he got up from underneath their boots on the ground to his knees, still pushing back.

Huffing, they pushed forward against his force, until he fully got up, thrusting them to the wall behind their back with their ax against their neck.

They grunted when they were pressed against the wall as the handle of the ax is against their neck.

They pushed forward to force back to move the sharp blade away from their neck to kill them.

As for Stephanie, she slowly got up to her feet from being on her front, trying to escape from the two fighting titans.

But she slipped and flipped over her back while hearing a pair of large feet heading for her.

She saw the BLU Soldier chasing right after her, holding the shovel over his head to instantly strike her with it to eliminate her.

The Pyro was out in the back, tossed to the ground as they were on their bottom.

She gave out a terrified scream and scrambled backwards, trying to push herself away from the figure, as he stopped and held the shovel up over his head as if he was using it as a mallet.

Before she was hit from the shovel, something sliced through something, instantly making her flinch in fear from the noise, as the BLU Soldier abruptly stopped, dropping the shovel from over his head to behind his back.

The shovel clanked on the ground with a dull noise, as blood dripped from the corners of his mouth.

Suddenly, he collapsed on his knees in front of her, as his arms dropped to his sides, getting ready to fall onto his front while she was frozen.

When she noticed that he is going to fall over, she scooted backward to get away from his body.

He landed roughly to the ground as he fell over to the side and not staring at her with his dead eyes.

But stuck in his back, is the Pyro's ax, logged into their as if he was a piece of log.

She shakily sighed in relief that she is saved from a BLU Soldier again until she heard footsteps heading towards her.

Stephanie stiffened up when she heard the footsteps, terrified to look again at the figure who saved her.

But, she glanced back in front, the familiar smell of charcoal kicked in her scent, to see the Pyro is walking towards her.

She frantically backed up to get away from the scary being that just killed a BLU team member, worried that she could be next in line.

But before she could even get up to her feet, the Pyro quickly knelt down to their knees and reached over to her with both of their gloved hands.

Luckily the hands were not covered in blood to make her even more scared.

They gently scooped her up into their palms, as she instantly gave out a frightened yelp when she was picked up.

Terrified to the point of tears, she started crying again, while she curled in the nightmare's hands, trying to make herself a small ball.

They gently curled their hands inward more when she curled into a ball, as a protective way to prevent her from falling out of their palms.

She closed her eyes as she cried, feeling scared to her mind that she is going to die.

Stephanie repeatedly wished to herself that she was back in her bed, feeling safe and warm in her mother's embrace.

"P-Please…" she quietly whimpered, as she sobbed between words, as the Pyro watched and listened to her. "D-Don't… hurt me…"

A short and sad "Mhh" came from the mask of the being that is holding her in their hands, looking concerned about the crying girl as she continued crying.

They felt stupid to themselves of frightening her almost to death for defending her from a BLU Soldier, which is the same one that almost attacked her when she was saved by the Soldier.

Being careful as they can, they gently moved her to their left hand, as she was still crying.

Using their right hand, they opened a pouch open before carefully slipped her into the open pocket of their jumpsuit's belt.

The pouch that is in front of their body where they can see her without having to pull her out continuously to see if she is all right and calm her down from the scary interaction.

As they carefully placed her in their pouch, while hearing a terrified squeak escaped from her once she got inside.

After she landed on the bottom of the pouch safely, she was shaking almost to death from her fit, scared to imagine herself as a little pet for them to play with.

When she was placed inside, she noticed the flap that can cover the top of the pouch to keep objects from falling out was unclipped down to protect her, feeling a little calm that she is not sealed in darkness, but slightly startled when the body started to walk, leaving the spot of where they saw her from.

The Pyro walked over to where their ax is and knelt down on one knee, picking up their bloody ax from the ground.

" _You failed!_ " the voice spoke through the speakers of the BLU base, letting the Pyro know that they have won.

When the Pyro heard the victory, they sighed through the mask, relieved that they have to go find who is carrying what to the bases.

The Pyro stood up from the ground after picking up their ax and started to walk back to the other base, after exiting out of the BLU base.

As the Pyro walked back to the base while carrying Stephanie in their pouch of the belt, Stephanie felt slightly calmed down by the gentle rocking of the body, but still is terrified that she saw someone being killed right in front of her eyes.

She imagines the rocking was the crib of her bed, when she was a baby, hearing her mother softly humming a lullaby to her as she slept, dreaming dreams of what could happen next in the future.

From the imagination, she felt like she was falling asleep from the rocking, nearly on the verge of entering sleepiness.

After a few minutes have passed, she heard a door being open, snapping out of her imagination and felt the Pyro entered the room, carefully closing the door behind their back.

After the door had been shut behind their back, she heard a muffled but a gentle sigh from them, exhaling in relief.

Now, she felt concerned about what could be inside the Pyro's room and could be one of the Pyro's collections of toys.

The flap covering the pouch's entrance flipped open from outside, as some light went inside, revealing her as she has rosy red cheeks and tears streaming from her eyes.

The Pyro reached their hand inside to retrieve her out.

Stephanie glanced up to see what is going on, only to see a hand reaching towards her from the opening.

She wanted to push the Pyro's fingers away from her body, and move deeper into the pouch, but she instead limped and allowed the being to pick her up.

At that moment, she was gently scooped out of the pouch of their front pocket, before lifted up to their face, as she just limped, allowing her to be a toy to play around with the Pyro.

They gazed at her with a glum look through the lens of their mask, looking sorry for frightening her almost to death.

Now that she can see the inside of the Pyro's room, the room looked normal like the Soldier's and Jeremy's, except the walls were painted with magnificent rainbows and painted green grass at the bottom.

There were some clouds too, with a couple of lollipops and unicorns.

In the far corner at the right is a brightly painted sun, that illuminates the rainbows, as there was a window over their bed.

The bed, on the other hand, was almost covered in different plushies of unicorns and teddy bears wearing different stitched items on their clothes, as the blankets were in different colors.

She felt… puzzled about the strange and lovely scenery of the room, thinking they might have creepy and horrifying objects inside to either hurt other people or just to creep them out.

Somehow, she imagines the room as her own, the walls painted with the sky with clouds and air balloons floating into the air.

Then, the Pyro walked over to their bed, snapping Stephanie out of her imagination, feeling scared to be one of their own.

Instead, she was placed down on an empty part of the bed, in front of the Pyro, as she landed on her bottom, halfway kneeling.

The blanket underneath her body is decorated with fire flames that are stitched onto it.

The softness of the bed gently cushioned underneath her minimal weight, as she felt more relaxed than before, but, alerted for any sudden attacks from them without noticing it was coming to her.

The Pyro walked over to the cabinet of their clothes, opening the draw to one of the cupboards, and picked up a box of tissues from inside.

They walked back over to her and knelt down on one knee to her, gently pulling a tissue out of the box without ripping it and holding it out for her to have it.

She gently took the tissue out of the Pyro's hand, holding it close to her body, as she curled up, crying softly to herself, as a sad "Mmm…" came from them, looking sad and stupid for frightening her like that.

After she calmed down slowly as the minutes slowly passed, as the Pyro gazed at her as she cried, she shakily blew her nose, clearing her nose from the mucus that is blocking her nose.

Then, the Pyro stood up slightly to their height, glancing around, which caused Stephanie to glance up at them.

"Mmm…" they muffled to themselves, thinking of a plan of their own before an idea came to their minds.

With their right hand, they made put up their first finger, as if they are saying "one-minute" to her while mumbling, "Hnm mnnhtm."

She slowly nodded her head, understanding what they both said and meant.

Mentally, Stephanie is worried to make a wrong move to make them angry.

After they got a quiet response from her, they stood back up to their feet, and turned their back around to her, and walking away for a moment.

When they were away for a moment, she shakily sighed to herself as she looked down from the Pyro, still shaking from head to toe from the scary encounter.

She heard something rustling, so she glanced up, noticing that they were looking for something.

Then, they picked up something from the desk, and turned back around to Stephanie, as she felt her stomach twist nervously.

They knelt down on one knee and moved their hands over her head to her back, as she thought that she is going to have a dog collar around her neck.

Instead, something draped over her shoulders and covered her back as cloth would do.

She glanced down at her left shoulder, noticing that the Pyro placed a hand-stitched blanket over her shoulders, decorated in various colors of blue, that matches the same pattern of her sweater.

She felt stunned she was given with a blanket, thinking that they were killing machines that only do their job.

With both of her hands, she pulled the blanket up over to the back of her neck, before wrapping it around her front.

The blanket acted as a shock blanket for her to calm down as if she was in the Medic Bay again.

"Fh, hhw hrm nhh fmmlnng nhw?" they muffled, asking her a question through the gas mask, while kneeling back down to her height, with the tip of the gas mask almost close to her body.

She did not know what they said, so, she spoke, although shaking a bit, "I-I don't understand what you are saying?"

They slightly tilt their head to the side in confusion about her words, until they understood what she meant, so they made a mention of that if she is okay.

"Oh, am I okay?" she politely asked, as they nodded their head. "Oh, I-I'm… a bit better."

They nodded their head again as if they understand her words, even though they are wearing that gas mask that could be blocking small noises.

They muffled, "Dh nhh hndmrfthnd whht Hm hm fhnnng?"

"Err… A little?" she answered gently, making a maybe mention with her right hand. "But, I'm still practicing about learning of what you said, though."

"Hghn." they muffled again, nodding their head once.

She glanced around their room for a moment and said, remarking about the decorations that they decorated, "Well… I see you are a fan of rainbows and cute stuff."

"Hh plmhfm." they muffled as if they are bashful about what she said. "Hm jhft lhvm thm ghtmnmff frhm thmm."

"I… uh…" she drifted off, thinking of a polite way of saying that she did not see that they enjoyed cute things instead of the scary things that could make her worse than she imagined that could be inside. "Didn't know you liked cute things instead of frightening things…"

"'Frnghtmnnng thnngf?'" they thoughtfully repeated.

"Y-Yeah, I don't mean to be rude and all, but you did frighten me almost to death back there. I-I didn't know if you were a BLU. You could've hurt me accidentally or on purpose." she gently explained, as bits of tears streamed.

"Hh…" they muffled in an agreement, agreeing with her from their lack of carefulness, as they glanced away from her, looking kind of sheepish.

They were silent for a moment, thinking for a second, until Stephanie asked, "Pyro?"

They glanced back at her, replying with an "Nmf?" as they have a curious and puzzled look on their face, gently cocking their head to the side.

"You… never want to hurt me, right?" she slowly asked, feeling like she could trust this being.

The Pyro nodded their head yes, answering her question, as she sighed gently, relieved to get the right answer instead of the wrong one.

After a moment of silence, the Pyro noticed the sun was going down over the horizon in the distance, while through the window.

They decided to take the day off for now.

When they glanced back at Stephanie, they noticed that she has fallen over to her front, as the tissue was moved to the side.

Worried, they reached over to her with both of their hands, and gently picked her up from the bed, thinking that she passed out from a wound they have not noticed.

After they picked her up, they heard a distant noise that sounded like snoring, that made them stop from checking all over her body.

Confused from the noise, they listened to the noise, until they noticed that the sound was coming from Stephanie in their hands.

Stephanie is sleeping in their hands.

She was snoring quietly to herself, as her glasses almost off of her nose bridge.

A sigh escaped from them, as they were relieved that she fell asleep, but not that quick as they had expected.

With their left hand, they gently took off Stephanie glasses, without breaking them as they placed them on the desk right next to them.

After they took off her glasses, they pulled out a small and silken cushion from the corner of their bed with their left hand.

The appearance of the pillow is in the color of a cyan blue, as the softness of the cushion is average.

They gently placed her on top of the plush pillow, as she curled slightly into a ball, while they carefully took off her shoes and socks, not even hurting her at the slightest chance.

The Pyro then placed the cushion right next to their bed where they can see her, without any problems with animals or any other people roaming around at night.

Then, they placed the blanket that was left on the bed and placed over her body, as she took the side of the quilt in her hand and sleepily pulled it up to her neck.

After they put Stephanie into bed, they sat down on their mattress, sighing to themselves through their mask.

They watched as Stephanie slept peacefully, without any rash twitching or movement.

She is safe in their hands without anything else to fear about.

At that moment, they reached up to their mask with both of their hand and gently pulled it off of their face, divinely revealing a silhouette someone else's face, staring thoughtfully at Stephanie with a concerned look in their ruby red eyes, shining in the sunlight.

After gazing thoughtfully at her for a moment, the mysterious person rose from the bed, starting to get undressed from their baggy suit.

When the top slipped off after taking off the boots, the sunlight reveals a slim body, that looked like a female but looked almost male like.

After getting undressed, they went into their bed, gently pulling the covers up above their neck, falling asleep.

The sun went over the horizon and disappeared on the other side, as both the Pyro and Stephanie slept peacefully through the night.


	5. Chapter 4: The Demolition Man

The next day, Stephanie was the "first" one to be awake, slowly waking up from her sleep, after being calmed down from her overwhelming reaction when she saw the Pyro killed the BLU Soldier, twice in the row since the first time was the Soldier.

Even now, she feels somewhat groggy from her deep sleep, along with the lack of strength of getting up either.

But she forced herself to get up, despite the lack.

As she slowly got up from the pillow that she was gently placed on top of, she blinked a couple of times to become used to the sun rising above the visible horizon, shining through the window of the Pyro's room.

She lifted her right hand up slightly to block the light from her eyes as she blinked a couple more.

She shuffled a bit on the plush cushion, rising up slightly from the fabric cover around it.

Flipping over to her back, she pushed the blanket away from her body, noticing she was still wearing her clothes.

She heard the door opened, so, she glanced over to the left-hand side of where she is on the pillow.

When the door completely opened, the Pyro came into the room, noticing her fully awake on the plush cushion, looking a little groggily from yesterday.

"Hh! Nhh'rm hwhgm!" they muffled as if they noticed she was awake. "Hm thhhght thht nhh wmrm ghnng th flmmp thrhhghhht thm whhlm dhn."

Somewhat confused and groggily, she gently rose one of her eyebrows in confusion, blinking slightly to get the sleepiness feeling out of her head, as the Pyro sighed through the gas mask that they are wearing.

"Mhnbm nhh hrm trnnng th gmt thm flmmpnnmff hht hf nhhr hmhd?" they curiously asked, noticing she looked groggy.

Maybe it is from sleeping in from the usual time she wakes up.

"Uh…" she paused thoughtfully, unsure about what they said to her. "…Maybe?"

Another gentle sigh came from the Pyro as she got up from the cushion and repositioned herself, as the Pyro watched her preen like a bird, getting her clothes into the position that she had earlier when she first met them.

Although she could not take her mind off about that invisible person that was stalking her in the hallway back at the BLU base.

She wonders who was that figure, and what he, she or they were doing there.

Not only that but the odd and familiar smell of cigarette smoke.

It reminds her of her second grandma but does not meet her usually.

She reaches up to her face, thinking she was also sleeping with her glasses on too but noticed they were off.

"Anyways, do you know where my shoes and glasses are?" she politely asked.

The Pyro gently nodded their head yes, and made a mention that they had carefully placed the shoes right next to her, so, she glanced over to the left-hand side of where she is standing and noticed her shoes and socks.

Then, the Pyro reached over to the desk and carefully picked up her glasses, as she has her hands out, taking them from them.

"Oh, thank you." she thanked, as she put her glasses on.

"Nhh'rm wmlghmm." they muffled back to her, as if that they granted her thanks.

She translated about what they said to her through the mask and smiled at them.

Even though she knows little about words muffled through objects, she can translate a few.

And from behind the mask, she could tell they were smiling back at her too.

She sat down on the pillow and placed on her socks on first, then her shoes, not even bothering to tie her shoelaces since they were already fastened.

After putting on her shoes, she was suddenly scooped into a rubbery feeling, so, she glanced up at the Pyro, who has her in their right hand, gently holding her like a plush toy, except like what they thought of.

They stood up to their height, while carrying Stephanie in their hand, as she calmly waited for them to stand up fully, although a smidge worried of being dropped to the ground.

Then, she was placed on top of their left shoulder, sitting right next to their gas mask, at the area where their ear is to hear her talking to them.

But, Stephanie wonders how could they listen to her even though they are wearing that mask.

After she had been carefully placed onto their shoulder, they walked out of their room, encountering Scout and the Soldier at the same time.

Luckily they were not arguing at each other again.

"Oh, there she is," the Scout sighed, sighing gently in relief that the Pyro had her the entire time. "I thought dat da cat got her or somethin'."

"Nhh bhth gnhw hmr?" the Pyro muffled in confusion.

"Yeah, of course, Mumbles," The Scout answered to their curious question. "I was da first one dat noticed her."

"Until you hauled her ass outside into the battlefield." the Soldier mumbled underneath his breath, not letting go of the moment.

Stephanie shivered slightly at that memory she remembered.

It had nearly killed her.

"Dat was one time!" The Scout protested in annoyance.

"That is what you said earlier." The Soldier argued back, now sounding annoyed at him.

Exhaling impatiently through the mask, they are annoyed at their bickering, as Stephanie gripped the Pyro's collar of the suit, scooting closer as a way to say she is uncomfortable with the situation.

The Pyro noticed that look on Stephanie's face, looking like she was scared, shaking slightly from head to toe.

So they push between the two without a single word, as they finally stopped arguing, as they turned a corner.

Stephanie sighed in relief after they had stopped arguing in the distant.

They walked into another part of the base, going into another room, where there is no one else inside.

From the view inside, it looked like the living room, as there is a large, light pink rug in the middle, decorated with some couches and chairs, as there was a table in the back, with chairs along the sides.

From the right-hand side, she noticed there was a kitchen in a separate room, with the living room connected.

The Pyro walked over to the table and stopped in front of it, as Stephanie slid back down to the comfortable position.

After she had moved back into her position, the Pyro reached their hand up to Stephanie and gently wrapped their fingers around her body, lifting her up from her spot.

She felt uneasy as she was lifted up from the Pyro's shoulder, but relaxed a bit as she was moved to the table.

They placed her down on top of the table, as she landed on her feet instead of her bottom.

After Stephanie was placed down on the table, the Scout and the Soldier followed after the Pyro, not arguing as they entered.

"So, Py," The Scout began, as the Pyro glanced at him. "What are we gunna do with her? I don't know 'bout da rest of the team, but, I supposed we three have to keep her here until her parents come to her when she gives da address."

Stephanie mentally cringed when he mentioned about the address, as she glanced away from the three, without them noticing.

"Hh grhp!" the Pyro exclaimed in shock, slapping their rubber gloved hand on their forehead, as the Soldier flinched slightly. "Hmr phrmntf! Hm fhrght hbhht thmm!"

The Pyro instantly turned the other way around to the Scout from standing in front of Stephanie, with a "concerned" look underneath their gas mask.

"Whht hrm wm ghnng th dh?! Thmn hrm ghnng th bm fh whrrnmd Hmf wm dhn't rmthrn hmr bhgg hhmm ht hnn mhmmnt!" they worriedly asked through their gas mask, sounding completely worried about her parents.

"Dat's da exact problem in my mind!" the Scout agreed with them. "We just need to find the address to her parents."

"She still has parents?" the Soldier confusedly asked, tilting his head to the side slightly, sounding confused that Stephanie still had parents.

Stephanie, on the other hand, was not looking at the three, but looking out in the distance, thinking to herself about her parents, as the Scout turned to the Soldier.

"Yeah! If we take her back to da house dat she belongs to with her like dis, we get hammered by her concerned parents, thinkin' dat we did dis crap to her!" The Scout explained, thrusting his right hand towards her, as she noticed something from the corner of her eye and flinched nervously in fear, and in startlement.

"Oh, I didn't think about that." the Soldier only shrugged, as Stephanie looked unamused, now listening to the conversation, although missed half of it.

"Frickin' unbelievable!" The Scout sighed impatiently in disbelief, moving his right hand from Stephanie, as she sighed gently to herself.

"Whht hbhht thm Mngnnmmr?" the Pyro muffled, catching both of their attention from each other.

Stephanie felt confused about what they muffled about.

"Hardhat?" The Scout asked, sounding confused than annoyed.

'Who on earth is 'Hardhat?'' Stephanie thought to herself in confusion, confused about the team name that they gave to this person.

"Of course, Engie got gizmos 'n stuff, maybe he can help her grow back to normal size!" the Soldier beamed, instantly getting the plan that the Pyro had in their mind.

Stephanie felt more confused and curious about this strange person named "Engie" and "Hardhat."

"Yeah, he is da smart one 'round dis place!" The Scout replied to his idea, finally getting the idea that he has.

Stephanie was going to ask something thoughtful to the little agreement that they are talking about between the three of them, but instead went quiet, completely shutting down her thought in her mind, thinking that she is only nothing but just an invisible person that they have not seen.

At that moment, the two of them left the room, as the Pyro muffled to her to "stay put on the table" in case of accidentally getting caught by an unknown wandering BLU or worse.

She nodded her head once, understanding the Pyro as they followed after the two, heading towards where 'Engie' might be at.

After the Pyro disappeared, Stephanie sighed to herself and placed her hands behind her back, thinking to herself sadly.

She was thinking to herself about her parents, shaking from head to toe as she has a sad look on her face.

Stephanie remembers her parents in a memory, smiling at her with a happy smile as her little sister was waving to her happily.

But the memory faded when something painful and fearful came after that memory that made her shiver in fear at the terrible memory that came into her mind.

Suddenly, a glass sound clanked from the kitchen, as she jolted, snapping out of her fearful thoughts of the violent past she remembers, startled at the sudden noise that she heard.

She wondered to herself if it is the BLU Soldier, this time, seeking her to satisfactorily complete the wicked deed that he is desperately trying to achieve.

Or could be the same French invisible figure that was observing her at the similar spot where she met the Pyro back at the halls of the base.

She continued standing perfectly still at where she is, fearfully wondering who or what is behind her but stopped herself from looking behind her back, noticing there was no shadow looming over her.

Still worried about who is sneaking around in the room, she smelled the air through her nose, smelling for any aromas of smoke.

As luck would have it, she did not smell any cigarette smoke, nor seeing anyone else around in the area of where she is, so, she sighed gently, relieved that the mysterious figure is not nearby in the area.

Curious about who is around in the area of where she is, she carefully walked over to the table's edge in front of her and looked around for any signs that someone was here.

Before she could tell herself that nothing is inside and decided to wait for them to come back, she heard the same noises from earlier, the sound of glass clinking against the ground.

This time, it was coming from over in the kitchen counters, and soft mumbling too sounded drunk with alcohol that the mysterious figure is sipping.

A brown beer bottle suddenly rolled around from the corner of the kitchen counter that was blocking the mysterious figure's form that was behind it, and it looked like it was opened from someone.

There is someone behind there is still there, drunk from drinking all of that alcohol.

"Err…" she began speaking towards the hidden person, worriedly wondering if the mysterious figure is a BLU, but regarding her thoughts, she called out to the being, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Something clicked on the ground, at the familiar sound of something glass too, like the beer bottle she had seen earlier that was gently rolling in the direction of the table that she was placed on top of.

The sound of something getting up from the ground by the clicking of the heels, walking towards her voice that she called from, as she softly cursed at herself from her stupidity for calling the mysterious figure.

She is fearfully thinking to herself that the mysterious figure might be to be a drunk BLU team member that decided to drink alcohol since they are losing to the team she is with.

But, to Stephanie's mental relief, it was a team member of the same team she is with, except different from the other five team members that she had met earlier in the week.

This person has dark coffee skin color, black, short, and slightly curly hair, and one eye that is in a light gold color, looking pretty drunk, as he slightly wobbled side to side, and in his right hand is carrying a brunette beer bottle, almost like the other brown beer bottles that her Father has back at home, drinking.

He is wearing a red shirt with a single bomb symbol on his forearms like how the other logos are like to the Medic that she noticed, that has a turtleneck and shoved into his red pants.

Not only he is only wearing that cherry red shirt, but he is also wearing a white undershirt underneath, as the sleeves are almost down to his wrists.

His pants are shoved into his black combat boots, like how some recent team members that she met have in common.

When they caught sight of eyes, well, eye, since he only has one eye only instead of two from maybe an unfortunate accident or something heroic.

They were staring at each other, as for Stephanie, on the other hand, looked uneasy as he stared at her, thinking he does not notice her because of how drunk he is.

Or maybe he does?

He blinked once in bewildering confusion until he wobbly moved his left hand up, pointing drunkenly at her and said soberly, in the same Irish accent that Stephanie had heard during on the battlefield, when the Medic saved her, except drunk from the alcohol that he drank.

"What is a wee lass doin' 'ere? Don't ye know that wee bairns aren't allowed 'ere?" he drunkenly spoke.

She was confused about his question about her size, wondering why he had mistaken her for a "bairn."

And what does "bairn" stand for?

She was going to go silent after he asked but instead responded to his question, calling him over to where she is standing, although mentally worried about his reaction.

"Uh, it is best if you come over here, mister!" She anxiously called over to him, as she waved her hand to him. "I'm actually not that big where you are standing at."

Her stomach twists anxiously, feeling unsure about her slight trust towards him.

Blinking again, he wobbled over to where she is, as she backed up slightly so that he would not collapse on her if suddenly passes out.

While he is wobbling over to her, she stood at the spot she is at, as she did not flee once he was close to her.

He pulled out one of the chairs from in front of Stephanie, and sat down on the seat, noticing she is not a "bairn" like how he pronounced about her and looked more puzzled and bewildered, as well as still drunk.

"You're…" he paused, as he blinked in confusion and bewilderment.

Now that Stephanie can see him better, he has an eye patch in the color of black, concealing his left eye from something that took out his eye from a fierce battle.

"Actually that short?" he finished, taking a swig of his drink.

"Uh… Yeah, I am." Stephanie nervously spoke, carefully taking a small step towards him, still alert for any sudden grabs coming from him. "Are you… always like this, mister?"

"Aye, lass…" he drunkenly answered, sipping another swig of the alcohol he has in his hand. "I always 'ave."

She paused thoughtfully for a moment, thinking to herself as he noticed her look on her face, as he stopped for a bit.

Stephanie looked… sad because she recalled a heartbreaking memory that came into her thoughts.

Did someone died back at home or did someone broke up with her before she came to the base?

"Lass did somethin' 'appened while back 'ome?" he asked, taking another swig of his drink.

She snapped out of her daze of the memory in her mind, glancing up at him and gently sighed through her nose.

"No, not really…" she paused thoughtfully, wringing her slightly shaking hands a bit. "Truth to be told, I miss Marysville."

He glanced down at her after taking a swig of his drink, looking curious about her answer to his concerned question.

"You live in Marysville?" he curiously questioned, sounding curious.

"Yeah, I am an American," she answered, gently shrugging her shoulders a bit. "And uh, what's your name, I'm sorry I haven't properly introduced myself."

He gently smiled at her kindness and sat up properly, his beer bottle in his right hand still.

"Th' others called me the Demoman, but th' real name that I have is Tavish Finnegan DeGroot." he introduced himself.

Smiling slightly, she introduced herself politely, as she placed her right hand against her chest, bowing slightly to him, "My name is Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."

"It is a pleasure to meet ya, Stephanie," he replied gently, taking another swig of his drink.

She cautiously crept closer to him like a deer, alert for any sudden grabs from him or from someone else that came out of the middle of nowhere.

Once she got close enough, she stopped again, her palm that was against her chest is now holding her left hand, as she was shaking a bit.

"Uh, Travish?" she carefully questioned, feeling curious about what a Demoman is precise. "What is a Demoman, and what is "Demoman" short for?"

"Full of questions aren't ya?" he politely asked, as Stephanie glanced away from him, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

He placed his beer bottle right next to him, where he can grip it and drink it between talking to her while explaining to her about what a Demoman is.

"Well, th' first one to answer that question is that a Demoman is short for Demolition Man, so they've shortened it to Demoman," he explained, as Stephanie listened to him talking, not even looked bored. "Which is the team name that th' Administrator gave me, and a Demolition Man is an extraordinary man in explosions and that man is me."

"So, a Demolition Man is like you, and they are good at explosions?" she curiously asked, explaining what he said in her own words.

"Aye lass," he answered, reaching over to his bottle and picked it up, taking another swig of his drink.

After taking a sip, he placed it on the table, away from her without accidentally hurting her.

"And for me, I am one of those Demolition Mans." he smiled.

"You are?" she eagerly questioned, walking around his left arm, that is the size of a tree, that is lying on their side.

She sat down on the table, right next to his wrist, as her knees are up to her chest.

"What type of bombs do you use to fight or destroy things?" Stephanie curiously asked, feeling trusting towards him, although a little skittish from his size and what he could do to her.

"I use sticky bombs 'n grenade launcher to defeat those arrogant BLU bastards!" he exclaimed triumphantly, thrusting his right hand up into the sky, as his left arm is on the table right behind her back. "They kept comin' 'n we kept fightin', while you get th' briefcase since yer that small!"

She fell silent after he spoke about her, thinking to herself for a moment, thinking to herself about the BLU team and felt more curious, as well as confused.

But as well as embarrassed too.

Does he believe she is a new team member of the team?

"Uh, I'm not a new team member, Travish, I'm actually a civilian that is a little lost," she spoke up from being quiet the whole time, listening to his explanation about a Demoman.

While she was speaking, he picked up his bottle again and took another swig of the beer.

After she told him about her correction that she is not a member of the team; he nearly choked on his drink in shock, spitting a bit of the beer in his mouth, luckily, away from her body that is close to him.

She flinched when he started coughing, curling up into a ball as his arm moved close to her from behind her back as if he is covering her from his sputter.

Then, he coughed a couple of times, moving her head down and away from the table.

"Yer a civilian?" he hoarsely asked, glancing back at her, after clearing his voice from choking on a couple of swigs of beer.

"Uh, yeah, I am a civilian," she responded to his confused question, while she nervously shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't sign up for anything."

"Then what th' bloody 'ell are ye doin' 'ere, then?!" he exclaimed in mild shock, as she jolted from the rise of his voice. "You might get killed by th' BLU bastards!"

"I… can't remember how I got here, Travish. I only remember a little back at home, but that's all I remember!" she explained, feeling worried.

He fell silent after she explained and felt confused, so, he put his beer bottle on the same spot where he placed it earlier.

The bottle was away from Stephanie where she would not go into it on accident or purpose when she gets up from the table, and it was only at his arm's length to sometimes drink during their explanation.

She feels nervous about what he is doing, as well as feel trapped as his other arm came over to his other arm, blocking the way out, as she felt trapped like a small mouse, that is wearing clothes like how humans would wear.

"Alright, lass," he spoke, sitting up straight in his chair where he could observe her and talk to her without having to look down at her at counter length or having to prop his chin on the table to freak Stephanie out more to be worried. "Explain everythin' to me 'bout yer past."

Slightly shaking from head to toe as she just sat there in her spot, her back facing his wrist, as she felt her stomach once against twist nervously.

She sighed through her nose, knowing he would not let her go until he understands what happened to her and how she got here without any signage from the Administrator.

"I…" she began speaking, bit pausing in her words, remembering the terrible moment in her mind.

Everything was coming back to her to be terrified of what happened and to force her to change her mind from the painful memory and lie to him about what happened.

But, she stopped herself from lying and continued talking, although with pausing a couple of times in her sentences.

"I only 'member I was runnin' away from a machine, through a green part of the woods of Marysville, just running' away from it, as it chased me in the woods," she shakily explained, as she placed her hands on her forearms. "Tryin' to see if it could capture me to kill me like what happened to the rest back at home, and I didn't know if it wanted to catch me or not, so, I ran away from it, tryin' to be alive."

"I… continued to run through the forest, not even bothering to stop to take a breath or get a drink of water from my water bottle in my backpack." she shakily continued, mentioning to her backpack that she has with him.

But, she left the backpack back at the Soldier's room.

The Demoman listened to every word that she explained, noticing she was on the verge of breaking down in well-founded fear from the terrible memory in her head.

"Then, I don't know why, but the machine stopped chasing me in the forest, I think it had lost sight of me, and I was going to stop to take a breath and a drink of water," she continued, sighing to herself. "Suddenly, I tripped over something on the ground and struck my head against something metallic and hard, thus the injury on my head that your Medic took care of at the day when I first got here."

"And what day is that?" he curiously questioned, feeling curious about what day she suddenly came.

"I… don't know," she answered, thinking to herself about what day she came.

She gently moved her hand up to her right temple, the same exact spot where she hit her head onto the metallic object that was on the ground, that made her small and into the middle of the plain.

"I think it was a week ago, maybe three days ago?" she guessed, sounding unsure to herself.

Feeling more curious, he asked, "May you continue th' story?"

"Sure, I can finish it," she nodded, moving her hand away from the right-hand side of her temple. "Then, I woke up here, in the middle of the battlefield, my temple bleeding slightly and looking confused. Not only that but shrunken down at 6 inches and genuinely terrified to death."

After she had completed the story, she placed her shaking hands together, shaking down to the bone about her terrible memory of the violent past.

"Not only that I am terrified, lost, and confused, I feel like I am not around here anymore. Like… no one even noticed me because of the lack of size and bravery." she added, sounding glum.

The Demoman looked concerned about Stephanie, worried that she had to go through all of that and most likely had to be scared almost to death of all of what is going on around her, without even getting hurt from both the RED and BLU team.

Being careful as he can, he slowly moved his left hand towards her, trying not to hurt her by any chances.

After his palm is behind her back, he gently moves his ring finger and pinky carefully around her front, as his middle digit is right next to her, as a possible way to ease her down from being on the verge of crying.

"Lass, it's okay, I understand." he soothed, feeling sorry for her.

She glanced up at him in the eyes, as she placed both of her hands on the tip of his middle finger.

When she placed both of her hands on his finger, he felt her shaking.

"You are lost and scared. We'll help you get back to Marysville." the Demoman softly spoke, as the shaking was slowly dying out.

Feeling warm and young again, she leaned into his fingers that are gently wrapped around her body, as the Demoman moved his palm more into a sideways cup position, to take in her body.

She sighed gently, calming down slowly by herself with the help of the kind and gentle Demoman.

"Thank you, Travish." she softly thanked, feeling protected from him.

"Yer welcome, lass." he granted, now not sounding drunk.

Soon, the Pyro, the Soldier, and the Scout came back into the room that the two of them are inside and the Demoman glanced up from gazing down at Stephanie, noticing the three.

At first, he felt worried about their reactions to him talking to someone "invisible" and thinks he might be talking to a Spy.

Luckily, his arm was covering Stephanie on the other side of her, as she looked confused about who he is looking at.

From the Demoman's view, the Scout noticed him as she mentally cursed to himself in Gaelic.

"Demo?" The Scout was the first one to speak in confusion, breaking the ice between the two of them. "What are ya doin' here? And where's Steph?"

"You know her?" he asked, now confused.

"Well, yeah, she wandered into us while in da base." the Scout responded, explaining some of it.

The Demoman was confused to ask another question, but stopped himself, deciding to trust the three.

But alert for any signs that they are not the team members.

Carefully as he can, he slowly moved his arms surrounding her body, revealing the small girl sitting in front of him, while she glanced cautiously over her shoulder to see who entered the room, only to instantly notice the three of them that she met.

"Oh, hi guys." she greeted, altering her mood from earlier.

"Hi." the Scout greeted back, sounding perplexed and confused, as the Pyro walked over to her, carefully checking if he did something wrong to her. "Demo, did you do somethin' to her while we were talkin' to Engie?"

"No," he answered as she stood up from the table. "I was just talkin' to 'er, n' she told me everythin' back 'er past, except for th' part of how she got 'ere."

"Hghn." The Pyro muffled, sounding like they understood what he said. "Whht dnd fhm thlg hbhht?"

"She said she lived in Marysville," he responded to their question.

"'Marysville?'" The Scout repeated in confusion and mild shock. "Dat's in Washin'ton!"

"Then, let's take her there!" The Soldier spoke, smirking slightly.

"Or we keep 'er 'ere until she turns back to normal after Engie makes the machine." the Demoman gently prodded, making a gesture of staying here.

"'Bout dat…" The Scout spoke, sounding uneasy and nervous at the same time.

Stephanie mentally felt her stomach nervously clench.

"What?" The Demoman confusedly asked.

"Da Engineer said dat makin' a machine to reverse someone's height will take days or months or years to complete and tested, and probably make a problem if not tested or made in a single day," he explained, sounding nervous.

The Demoman felt a bit of hope gone out, but he is still determined to help her get back to normal.

Stephanie gently sighed to herself without anyone noticing, knowing there is no way to reverse this.

"What 'bout this Measermus person?" The Demoman prodded again, shifting the subject of science to a different idea.

The name "Merasmus" confused Stephanie as she listened to the conversations.

"Are ya kiddin' me?!" The Scout exclaimed fiercely in shock, instantly turning towards him.

Stephanie flinched when he exclaimed.

"Dat man dat is dressed in a dress?! Hell no! He is a freak of nature and can make other horrible things dat might give us nightmares!" he snapped.

"So? He is a powerful magician!" The Soldier prodded. "He can make her big with his magic!"

"Hell no!" The Scout spoke sternly, putting his foot down. "We are not findin' dat creepy guy!"

The three of them got into an argument, as Stephanie felt an urge inside of her, telling her to walk away from the group.

She listened to the urge inside of her, so she was going to walk away from the argument, when the Pyro gently scooped her up from the table from behind her back, as she softly landed on their palm bottom first.

She was going to panic from the sudden movement from behind her, but instead stopped herself, realizing the feeling was the Pyro.

Stephanie quietly changes her posture from draping her legs over the side of the hand, to criss crossing her legs in front of her.

The Pyro might have noticed the uncomfortable look on her face when they started arguing and decided to take her to their room, far away from the arguing group so that she would not get into one of her emotional breakdowns again.

Now, they need to find out where her home is inside Marysville and who are her parents and to be more relieved, if they are still alive since a "machine" was on the loose back at her home.


	6. Chapter 5: The Heavy Weapons Guy

The next day, Stephanie was still staying inside the Pyro's room, looking slightly bored and irritated at the same time, as she has her right hand on her cheek, her arm propped up against her leg, as her legs were crisscrossed in front of her, as her other arm was on her other leg, not propped up.

Clearly, she hates being bored, because the annoyed look on her face means that it bothers her very much.

So, there she is, settling down comfortably on the floor right next to the pillow that the Pyro loaned to her for her to sleep on, looking annoyed.

She sighed boredly, knowing that pouting in the room, while waiting for something magical to happen, would not in fact help at all.

Nor waiting for the Pyro to come back would not help either.

She stood up from the ground where she was comfortably sitting, gently stretching out her limbs from being stiff.

After stretching out her limbs, she heard a grumble from her stomach, and stopped in mid-stretch, glancing down at her stomach, as she softly groaned to herself.

Stephanie has not eaten anything yet, even after she had already reached the base after running away from that monster a week ago and she had left her backpack in the Soldier's room.

But, she does not want to enter his room randomly and grab her backpack without him noticing.

He might accidentally mistake her for a rodent that roamed into his room and kill her, or maybe not seeing her when she entered.

So, she decided to get some food from the kitchen she saw the Demoman inside before.

Stephanie wisely decided to adventure around in the base she is inside, looking out for the kitchen she has not been inside before.

She walked out of the opened door of the Pyro's room, heading for the living room that she was inside before, wondering what was behind those kitchen counters.

Although she was told by the Pyro to stay where she was, but her curiosity and hunger got the best of her and wanted to see what is in the kitchen.

Stephanie felt slightly tired from running towards that area, but she continued her way.

She continued running in the direction of the kitchen she remembered correctly, but slightly since she has short-term memory loss.

Stephanie carefully continued searching for that same room she was with the Demoman, keeping an eye out for any unfamiliar team members that she has not met before or any BLU team members that might be lurking around in the base to look for her or look for trouble to cast on the RED team.

Until she reached the living room, noticing the same table, she had talked to the Demoman earlier.

She walked past the table and went into the kitchen, noticing it was empty and clean.

So, she directly entered the kitchen to get something for her to eat, only to unexpectedly go into something rubbery and soft.

Stephanie suddenly wheeled backwards after she went face first into the strange feeling, landing bottom first on the concrete ground, softly stroking her face in confusion, gently rubbing the mild pain away.

Stephanie looked at what the object she went into, noticing it was a boot and it belongs to someone big, taller than what she had expected from the other giants she had encountered.

Slowly, she looked up towards the person that she went directly into their boot.

Instead of a normal glanced up at the giant, she had to tip her head back more to get a better look at the person.

She felt like she is going to have a neck cramp from moving her head up too high in the air until she finally stopped.

Stephanie imagined she was staring up at a skyscraper in New York.

When she glanced up to see what or who she went into, she immediately froze, gawked and shaking from head to toe, as the pupils of her eyes went inward.

The person that she went into was the same exact man, who died in front of her when she first got on the battlefield, towering like a giant building before her.

Luckily, he was facing the counter of the kitchen, looking thoughtful like he was making something in front of him, as she was just standing right next to his foot that she went into, not even bothering to look to the side to notice her standing there, gawking at him.

Feeling her heart beat fast in fear, she felt worried he might notice her after a few minutes or hours has passed and kill after seeing her, which made her slightly pale.

Until he looked down at the ground when he felt a small pair of eyes was anxiously watching him, just like what her thoughts were thinking about in her mind.

She flinched when he noticed her on the ground, her pupils dilated in fear, as she was scared to death, shaking from head to toe.

If she moves an inch to walk away from him, he will instantly kill her at midstep, thinking that she is a mouse that wandered into the kitchen to get some food.

So, she just stood there, shaking uncontrollably in her shoes, as she stared back up at him, stiff like a stick as she was mentally and frantically praying to herself that he is not in a bad mood or mistaken her for a mouse.

But, instead of getting killed by the giant, he placed something down on the counter and slowly turned around towards her, as she flinched slightly, startled by him suddenly moving.

He slowly knelt down on one knee towards her, as her heart was beating faster, feeling like she is on the verge of passing out as she stared back at him, feeling nervous.

They stared at each other in the eyes for a moment, as she frantically thought about what this giant might do to her entering in her mind in bunches of anxious thoughts.

Not only she was thinking of that, but she was also wondering about how did he returned to the living when she saw him die in front of her eyes.

After what seemed to be hours, he made the first move, startling her as she jumped.

He suddenly moved his hand down towards her, as she slightly flinched from the sudden movement from him.

She thought he might have decided to pick her up from the ground or injure her.

She froze on the spot when she saw his hand moved, unable to budge an inch to run away from the being as her hands clutched her sweater, her heart beating fast as she followed his hand, wondering what he could be doing?

Instead, he moved his hand away from above Stephanie to behind her back and carefully, but slowly scooped her from the ground, as she tumbled backward into his palm, shaking from head to toe, as she wrapped her arms around his pinky finger.

After she was in the giant's palm, he slowly and carefully lifted her up from the ground to his chest, as she felt her heart beat faster, as she tightened her grip around the giant's finger, feeling more and more scared at each moment, thinking she is going to pass out.

When she was up to the giant's chest, he slowly started to rise to his feet, as Stephanie tightened her hands a bit more, feeling her knuckles of her hands turning white.

After he had stood up to his feet, he turned his body towards the kitchen counter and placed her down, as she landed on her feet, while releasing his pinky finger, as the color on her hands slowly turned back to normal.

She did not have the chance to run away, as she just stood there, shaking like a leaf as her hands were together, trying to calm herself down and stop herself.

Stephanie glanced around at her surroundings, wondering what is going on until she noticed he was maybe going into the kitchen too to get some food.

More anxious thoughts came to her head, wondering if she is next in line to be in a sandwich or be his little helper, although she is not much of one at this size.

Or maybe devour her as she is?

Stephanie shivered in fear from the random panicked thoughts popping in her head about what could happen to her, so she forced them away, trying to think of something else to calm herself down.

The giant noticed how scared she is by the trembling, so, he paid no attention to her and went back to what he was doing.

She glanced at what he was doing and noticed he was making a sandwich, making her feel more scared as she continued trembling.

He first placed down a single slice of bread on the cutting board in front of him and then reached over to her.

She immediately froze on the spot as she watched his large hand loomed over her, but went past her and instead picked up the bologna.

After he had picked up the bologna, he placed the slices on the bread slice and folded them halfway.

He put away the bologna after placing the slices down, and then reached over to the ham, doing the same thing like the bologna.

Then, he picked up a single slice of swiss cheese and folded into two, placing it down on top of the ham slices.

After placing the cheese on top, he then took out a couple of lettuce slices from a single hand-sized lettuce.

And then placed them on top of the cheese.

Then, he reached over to a different cutting board and picked up a knife, making Stephanie stiffen in fear, as she jumped slightly, paling a bit too.

Instead of grabbing her to be used for his sandwich, he instead picked up a tomato and slice that, making a couple of slices.

After he had sliced enough tomato slices, he placed them on top of the lettuce leaves and put the remaining tomato away.

Then, he picked up another bread slice and placed that on top of the tomatoes, completing the sandwich.

But, he picked up the knife again, as she flinched, stiffening as she watched the blade in his hand.

Instead, he sliced the sandwich in half, diagonally, without making a mess.

To add, he inserted two toothpicks into the slices, before adding an olive on top of the toothpicks, spearing them.

When he was finished making the sandwich, he placed the items away, as Stephanie watched, although a little scared about what he could do to her.

After putting away the last item, he went back to the sandwich and Stephanie, as she was just standing there on the counter, shaking like a leaf as her hands were clenched together, trying to stop herself from showing fear to him.

But, she was and could not stop herself, except only to continue trembling, as there was a grumble from her stomach.

She flinched slightly from the noise, and released her hands, wrapping her arms over her stomach as she glanced away from the giant, thinking that he was mocking her for her hunger.

Instead of munching the sandwich in front of her to mock her more and make her feel left out, he picked up a slice of the sandwich he sliced earlier and placed it in front of her, as she jumped slightly from the sudden movement of his hand.

She stared at the slice for a moment, as her shaking died down a bit, before glancing up at him, although scared to in the first place.

"Leetle mouse may be hungry." the mighty giant softly spoke, his gentle voice was thick with a Russian accent, but humble too.

The sound of his voice startled Stephanie as she jolted, frightened that the gentle giant started to talk to her, without signs of hurting her.

"Es not kind to eat sandvich in front friend without manners." he continued, sounding like he is assuring her from her fear.

Feeling confused, she politely asked, while stammering slightly on her words, "W-Why? I-Isn't it yours? You made it, you go ahead and eat it."

"Нет." the giant Russian softly replied, saying "no" in Russian as he gently moved the delicious slice of the sandwich towards her, as she felt like it was the size of a log up to her chest. "You eat. You hungry."

She went silent after he spoke that, before asking another question, a grumble came from her stomach, as a light blush appeared on her cheeks, wrapping her arms around her belly again.

Although, he was right about one thing; she was hungry.

So, she got up to the giant slice of sandwich in front of her, hesitating for a moment, before taking a small handful of the bread, and bit into it.

The flavor was good, and there was nothing inside to make her feel disgusted or being poisoned to death.

So, she continued eating the sandwich, although slowly because she was not too sure of completely consuming the whole thing without noticing that could be inside.

So, she ate in silence, as the giant Russian watched her, enjoying his slice of the sandwich.

But, he does not look like he wanted to keep Stephanie for himself but looked concerned about her, watching as she slowly ate her slice, not even looking at him in the eye.

Soon, they both finished eating the sandwich together, as the giant Russian was impressed that Stephanie actually finished the slice without getting a stomach ache.

With the back of her hand and using the sleeve of her sweater, she wiped a bit of tomato juice from the corner of her mouth, without looking up at him.

"Leetle mouse es hungry." He softly spoke, sounding a bit amazed as she glanced up at him, although shaking a bit from being scared of him. "Es no surprise."

"Yeah…" she softly spoke, pausing a bit as she continued wiping some tomato juices from the corners of her lips. "I didn't get to eat anything after I had got here…"

He paused for a moment as he thought to himself, remembering when he saw her, almost dropped to the ground after the Scout picked her up incorrectly.

"When was this?" he asked, as she finished wiping the juice from her mouth.

"A week ago, I think, I'm not sure…" she softly answered him, moving her hands away from her mouth.

Feeling curious about her, he gently reached over to the tiny girl without her noticing he was going to pick her up again and scooping her back up into his palm.

She jolted in startlement from the sudden touch of his hand from underneath her, lightly scooping her up from the kitchen counter to his chest.

Stephanie wrapped her arms around his pinky again to keep herself from falling off, this time, a little tight but not too much to make her knuckles white like last time.

Instead of placing her into a pocket, he carefully and slowly moved his hand to his left shoulder, so that she would talk to him through his ear.

She slowly got off his palm, and landed on his shoulder, releasing his finger in the process and curled close to his neck to be safe, as her right hand gripped onto his vest and undershirt.

After she had been comfortably seated onto his shoulder, he walked out of the kitchen and the living room, as Stephanie was close to his neck, feeling worried about accidentally falling off and to her death.

He walked down the hallway, that has many doors along each side of the corridor.

Above each door, there were symbols related to each team member of the RED team.

He walked towards a door that has his symbol on top, as she felt curious about what could be inside.

He unlocked the door of his room, and opened it, revealing the inside of his bedroom.

The inside of the room was identical in size like the other rooms she had been inside before, but, she felt like it was too small for his size.

The bed and the dresser were there like the ones in the other rooms, except the wardrobe was large for his clothes to be inside without spilling out of the drawers.

The bed was massive for him to be on it without his feet dangling over the side, and it was sturdy for his weight too.

"Is… this your room?" Stephanie gently asked, curious about the unfamiliar room she entered.

"Да. Es room," he answered, entering inside the room as he closed the door behind his back. "Small for me, but es good."

He walked over to the bedside table right next to his bed and gently scooped her up from his shoulder.

After he scooped her up form his shoulder, he placed her down on top of the small bedside table, right next to his lamp.

Stephanie just sat there curiously as he took two steps back and started to take off his black vest over his body.

Somehow, the room reminded her of her own room that she had back at Marysville.

It was small like how his room is like, only a bit of the memory, but it was snug for her to relax in.

Her hands clenched slightly against her sweater that she is wearing, thinking about her past makes her feel more homesick and scared.

Luckily, he did not notice her looking sad and scared at the same time.

As she sat there, thinking to herself for a moment, she glanced back up to him, wondering about his name.

So, deciding to break the ice between both of them, Stephanie softly asked, "Mister? What is your name? My name is Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen if you are curious to ask."

He glanced back towards her after hanging his vest up on the back of his door, and answered her question, first speaking in fluent Russian to her, which confused her, but he repeated what he said in English, "Михаил Велес, which mean, Mikhail Veles or Misha."

She softly smirked at his real name, and said, kindly asking about his nickname in piqued curiosity, "'Misha.' That means 'bear,' right?"

"Да," He answered again in fluent Russian. "You American?"

"Yeah, I am," She answered his question, feeling a bit relaxed as she repositioned herself to be comfortable, halfway kneeling as she sat.

Stephanie paused again when he walked over to his wardrobe and opened one of the drawers, before taking out an enormous book that is thick enough to squash her like a bug.

She softly shivered at the scary memory in her mind, forcing the negative thoughts away in her mind, but merely managed to ask a question to him, but pausing a bit in her sentence.

"Do you… hurt people by any chance?" she softly asked, mentally praying he is not someone that could hurt anyone if angry or just wanted to.

He stopped for a moment, gently holding the book in his hand for a moment, as Stephanie felt like she was frozen in the spot, mentally panicking to herself as she thought he was going to get angry at the instant.

But, he turned back around to Stephanie, as she luckily has a straight face, but a panicked thought in her mind, as the muscles inside to her screamed to run when he is angry.

"Нет, I don't hurt woman," he answered politely, gently shaking his head once side to side, making Stephanie's thoughts stop in mid-run.

He does not want to hurt her?

She glanced up at his eyes from looking away for an instant, feeling relieved wash over her, making the worried feeling disappear.

"Never hurt woman in life." He responded, before adding, "Hurt baby man instead."

Curious, she politely asked, "Who's the 'baby man?'"

A soft chuckle came from him, his shoulders gently moving up and down as he giggled softly.

Stephanie wanted to giggle along with him, but she was nervous, so she instead listened to him as she just sat there.

Then, he walked over to the bed and sat down on top of it right next to Stephanie, as it gently creaked underneath his weight.

"'Baby man' es lettle Scout," he answered gently.

"Oh!" Now she understood who he beat up, feeling sorry for him to be picked around by that guy.

Then, she felt confused about why he beats him up.

"Why on earth, though?" she asked, sounding completely confused.

"Make fun of weight," he answered grimly, sounding slightly grumpy, which made Stephanie flinch from the tone of his voice. "Heavy hates it."

"I understand." She softly spoke, understanding about him and his weight. "I was slightly made fun of because of my size."

He glanced at her with a puzzled look on his face, and she gently sighed, deciding to explain what she meant by that.

"I was not at this size, but, your size, except 5'0." she politely explained what she meant, while he was listening to her, his confusion going away. "My sister was taller than me, so, she kept making' short jokes, and sometimes about my fluffiness too."

"Why?" he asked curiously. "You should slap sister for making fun of you. If brother, a punch would work."

"I never actually have punched anyone in my life. Gently slapped someone yes, but punched someone? No, not really," she answered thoughtfully. "I just don't want to become someone else than myself and to add; I don't have a brother."

He paused for a moment, thinking to himself for a moment, before sighing, glancing away from her, as she looked confused and worried at the same time.

"Имеет смысл." he quietly whispered, in fluent Russian.

She felt puzzled about what he said in Russian, but shrugged it off her shoulders, knowing she could not translate what other people said in their languages.

"Uh, anyway, do you have a team member name?" she asked, asking his team name.

He nodded his head and answered, "Heavy, Heavy es team name."

"A pleasure to meet you, Heavy." Stephanie greeted, making the mood a little lighter.

The Heavy nodded his head once and glanced away for a moment, thinking to himself as Stephanie looked a little curious about what he is thinking about.

Then, the Heavy moved his large hand towards her, as she just stayed still.

She mentally assumed to herself that he is going to grab her around her body.

But he instead placed his hand right in front of her as a platform for her to climb carefully on top of, his palm up.

Relieved that she did not get grabbed, she carefully climbed onto the gentle giant's hand, sitting comfortably in the middle of his palm, as she placed her right hand on top of his pinky finger.

She patiently waited for him to move her where he could keep an eye on her, with no problems of being caught by the BLU Spy, or someone that Stephanie has not seen before.

She was carefully lifted up from the table and tightened her grip on the Heavy's pinky, a little startled by the sudden movement, but she relaxed, her knuckles' color coming back to normal.

Instead of being placed somewhere he could see her, she was carefully placed on top of his shoulder again.

She sat comfortably on his shoulder, scooting over to his ear where she could talk to him and to not accidentally fall off.

Stephanie glanced over at the book in the Heavy's hands, as the words were in Russian.

She gently sighed, knowing she could not read the words since they are only in Russian.

"Heavy read book for you," he spoke gently, pointing to the book's cover. "Heavy's favorite."

"Really?" she politely asked, sounding curious, but then looked sad, and apologetic. "But I'm sorry Heavy, I can't read Russian."

"Нет, don't be sorry." He softly spoke to Stephanie. "Heavy read for you."

She felt shocked when he softly assured her he is going to read the book to her, and she gently smiled.

"Alright, I would love to hear what this story is about," she gently spoke, patting the side of his neck.

A smile tugged against his lips, so he gently smiled, feeling social and happy that he has someone to listen to him reading.

Usually, some of the team members do not have any time to listen to him reading, or not understand his broken English.

Others would fall asleep or yell out, "Boring!"

But, she is polite enough to listen to him reading his favorite story in his hands.

"Да, let's read." he softly replied, agreeing with her.

But, before he starts reading, he reaches over to a small rectangular container, while placing the book down on his lap.

He took out a small pair of rectangular glasses from inside the container, placing them on his nose bridge.

Stephanie slightly cocked her head to the side in interest and curiosity, not knowing he needs glasses to read the book in front of him.

After he placed the glasses on, he put the container back down on the same spot he had set them before and picked the book back up from his lap.

He opened the book, as Stephanie gently leaned her body against his neck, listening to him talking, reading the story to her.

So, he began reading the first chapter of the story, reading in Russian first, then repeats himself in broken English, the best as he could.

But, Stephanie understood him, even though he struggled a bit, she would help him with his words, saying some of the words he could not say.

He was confused at first of how she understood him but ignored the feeling, continuing to read the story, while repeating in broken English of what he said.

She would correct him once a while when he fumbled, not too much to make him annoyed that she was trying to make him perfect.

She was patient with him, listening to him read in both Russian and repeats in broken English for her to understand what he is saying.

Stephanie listened to the Heavy reading the book in his hands, reading a sentence to her in Russian, then repeats in broken English, although stumbling a bit.

But, Stephanie was patient with him, correcting him when he stopped, sometimes apologize for her actions, which he said it is okay.

She granted the assurance, and listened to him continuing to read, not even bored after a few minutes or more have passed.

The Heavy was happy that someone was willing to listen to him read his favorite book to someone.

Stephanie, on the other hand, was happy too, but inside her heart, she was sad.

Her Mother had once read a story to her and her little sister, whenever the two feel bored on a dull, rainy day.

She would read stories about a brave princess who decided to go to find a dragon and go on this adventure to save the kingdom from darkness.

But, her little sister would interrupt their mother in the middle of the story, complaining that the story is boring or try to make her change to a different book that would be interesting for herself.

Stephanie, on the other hand, wanted to hear what happened next in the story and does not want to change to a different book because it was an intriguing fantasy.

Somehow, it got into a small argument, and it annoyed their mother, always trying to separate the two.

So, she stopped reading books to both of them, since neither her mother or her little sister would agree to anything.

But that was the past, now that she has the chance to listen to someone reading a book to her, she could finally hear what could happen next in the story, without anyone complaining.

Well, except for the Scout sometimes.

But, for now, she has the chance to listen without any problems, happily listening to him reading his own favorite story.


	7. Chapter 6: The Engineer

The next day, Stephanie got lost while walking through the walls of the base, after getting out of the Heavy's room.

He had already finished reading his story to her, and she had enjoyed it every minute.

The ending was sad, though, but the story was creative and fun to read again when they are alone again together.

But, after he finished the story though, he placed the book on his lap, and slowly fell asleep, not noticing that Stephanie was on his shoulder still.

So, she decided to let him have his nap without interrupting it.

Being careful though, she took off his glasses from his face, and placed them away from his body, and walked away from the room.

Even after she walked out of the Heavy's room, she apparently got lost on her way to the Pyro's room.

So, she decided to use her own talents of trying to get around in the base, by going through the holes she had been inside before.

But that made her a little bit more lost since she had been only behind the walls once.

So, she does not know where she is, and had never wandered into this part of the thin hallways.

As she continued walking through the narrow hallways behind the walls of the RED base, she glanced around for any signs that a mouse has been here or a rat.

But, as she turned around the corner, a small faint ray of light went into her eyes, as she lifted up her left hand to block it.

After she lifted her arm up to block her eyes from the light, her eyes got adjusted to it and noticed there was some light coming from the other side of the hole.

She got closer to the hole on her left-hand side of the wall and noticed it was her size, except where she had to duck a little to go through it.

So, she decided to go through it to see what is on the other side of the hole.

Squeezing her body a bit to fit through without any problems, she went through the hole quickly, popping out the other side of the opening, seeing the room that she had entered.

Inside the room she had popped into through the hole, it was massive, that 6 or 7 cars would fit inside side by side along the sides.

Instead of cars inside the large room, it was instead many different machines, some of them halfway created, and some are finished, except not used.

But, it was not only filled with different machines, but it was also filled with different tables, counters, and boards that have blueprints pinned to them.

There were some on the counter too, except not fully sketched out, and decorated with designs, number, and diagrams.

She was in awe, as she glanced around, stunned to see a room filled with many machines inside.

Everything around her looked normal, but yet, odd to her feeling in her heart, she feels like this is normal to herself that she is looking thoughtful.

She felt awed of how massive the machines were, feeling like she is walking through the park as there are massive buildings around her.

Slowly, she walked out of her hiding spot through the hole, walking into the opening as she glanced around the area, seeing it was a long way while walking down.

Mentally, she felt like she was shrunken down more into the size of an ant while staring at them, as an uneasy feeling washed over her.

Suddenly, she felt the ground shaking lightly from underneath her feet, so she stopped at where she was, pausing for a moment.

They felt like… footsteps.

Then, the ground started shaking again, and it did feel like footsteps, and they were heading towards where she is!

Quickly as she can, she ran over to the nearest spot in the room to hide away from the incoming giant.

She noticed a thick table leg, so, she hides behind the leg, hiding away from the giant.

As the footsteps got closer to where she is, the ground underneath her feet rumbled a little more than earlier, as her heart was pounding louder that she could hear it clearly.

She does not want to be caught by another giant that she has not seen before.

But, she wondered who this giant is.

So, gathering her courage, she peeked around the corner of the leg, looking for whoever was coming.

Just as she slowly peeked around the corner, she saw a boot landed inches away from her, as she jolted, startled from the unexpected object.

She remembered when she first got hers; she was almost stepped on by the Soldier.

Stephanie looked up along the boot, seeing that standing inches away from her was another giant, his gaze focused on a blueprint in his hand.

Immediately, she froze in her spot, completely stiffened as she stared up at him, trembling slightly from head to toe.

It was another giant!

She wanted to hide away again from him before he could notice her, but she was still frozen, still staring up at him as he stared at the blueprint in his hand.

Stephanie is lucky that he was only focused on the blueprint in his hand instead of noticing her from underneath the table.

He turned his body around to the metal counter on the right-hand side of where he was, placing the blueprint on top of it, as he took out a white pencil from a cup.

While he was standing in front of her without even seeing she was even here with him, she noticed this was her chance to escape from the room.

But before she could escape, she wanted to get a better look of him, to remember him and tell herself that this is a RED team member.

So, she slowly inched herself away from the table leg, going around from underneath the table, still hidden from plain sight, as she glanced up at him.

From where she is standing, she could clearly see him without him seeing her, although she was not too sure to be caught by him.

The giant has fair skin color and no hair from underneath the helmet that he is wearing to protect his head from falling debris or objects inside his workroom.

His eye color is hidden by his goggles, as they have a pair of gray lenses, so she could not make out of what his eye color is.

He not only that he is wearing that orange hard helmet, but he is also wearing a red undershirt with an orange wrench symbol on the side of his forearms, as an orange and gray striped glove was on his right hand.

Over his shirt is a pair of brown overalls with a pocket in the front of the chest, and a belt wrapped around his waist with different varieties of pouches decorated all over it and filled with many tools inside, except the one on his right-hand side of his side with a flap over it.

Inside that pouch is a brown furred teddy bear with the same clothing as him, and a small black one on the left-hand side of his belt, that is empty.

On his knees are orange protective kneecaps and wearing a pair of flaxen colored combat boots.

He looked slightly plump from Stephanie's view underneath the table she is underneath and felt confused about why his right hand is covered by a glove.

Instead of escaping out of the room that she had wandered inside, she was distracted by staring at him, feeling relaxed she noticed him, remembering that the other RED team members mentioned a "Hardhat," now seeing what they meant.

From the way he was doing, it looked like he was planning something that he is thinking, sometimes rub the back of his head, and tap his fingers against the counter gently.

Now that he is engrossed with the blueprint that he is looking at, she took her chance to escape from him.

Slowly as she could, she walked out from underneath the table, circling around him on his left-hand side, as he wrote something down on the blueprint.

After she had gone around him slowly, she started to slowly back up, taking one step at a time.

But, as she slowly walked backward, she did not notice there was a screw from behind her back, and her right foot gently kicked it, making a single clink noise against the concrete.

Since the whole workshop is deadly quiet, a small noise would break the ice.

She froze when she heard that noise, halting at the spot she stopped, her heart stopping for a moment, before returning to beat, slowly though than fast.

Deciding to see what she had kicked, she slowly glanced over her shoulder to her back, noticing she had kicked a screw with the back of her heel.

She gasped softly and whipped her head back to the giant, praying mentally and frantically to herself that he did not hear that from the screw.

Apparently, that small noise captured his focused attention from his blueprint that he was working on, as he carefully looked over his shoulder to where she is, as she inhaled her breath, watching him with fear in her eyes.

But, he was not looking down at the ground; he was instead gazing cautiously at his eye height, glancing around for whoever made that sound.

She wanted to exhale with relief, but she stopped herself, only breathing through her nose as she just watched him glancing around in the workroom, looking for whoever made that noise.

As he glanced around for a moment, his right hand on his blueprint and the pencil back into the cup that he pulled it out earlier, Stephanie continued watching him nervously, feeling worried that he might glance down at the ground and notice her, deciding to kill her since she is the size of a mouse.

Mentally, she prayed to herself that he is not far-sighted.

Then, he shrugged to himself after a while of looking around and went back to working on the blueprint, although taking out a wrench from the side of the counter and placed it in the empty black pouch he has.

She sighed gently in relief that he did not notice her on the ground, releasing the breath of air that she held in her lungs.

Then, she started slowly turning around towards the hole, without even looking back at him, heading back to it, forgetting that the screw she knocked over was still in front of her.

But, she did look around for any signs that he did see her without her noticing, maybe an unaware shadow creeping over her or any other noises.

She tenses up when she heard the noise, freezing at her spot as she glanced down, noticing the same screw that was on the ground before.

Stephanie winced to herself as she slightly glanced over her shoulder to the giant, believing he heard the noise.

But, he did.

Just as she predicted, he turned around after the noise from the counter to the table that she was hiding underneath before, as he glanced around for a moment, then took out his wrench, making Stephanie scared.

'I am so fucking bad at this…' She merely thought to herself in slight dismay.

He walked away from the counter with the blueprint on top, before taking a turn and headed towards where she is, as she was still, staring up at him from over her shoulder as he slowly walked over, not even noticing her on the ground.

"Best if ya come on out right now, Spah," he called out to the person that was lurking inside his workroom, ready to hit whoever's inside. "It is not best to wait until Ah let mah guard down because that is not gunna happen."

His voice sounded thick with a Texan accent itched over the warning side of whoever's lurking inside his workroom without him noticing.

She panicked as she whipped her head forward, clenching her hands together and waited for him to stop, cringing mentally to herself of getting squished by him.

His shadow started to loom over her, meaning that he was getting closer to her, and she went over panicking, into a complete panic.

So, she immediately started running, heading to the hole in the wall, kicking another screw with a force that it made a louder noise, catching his attention again.

This time, he glanced down at the ground, seeing a blue blur heading towards a hole in the wall.

"What the Sam Hill?!" he exclaimed in shock when he noticed Stephanie, small as a mouse, running straight towards the hole.

As she continued running frantically without tripping over her own feet, he quickly reached over to a clear empty glass jar and took a step forward, being careful with her and trying to catch her.

Stephanie noticed something on the ground when she glanced down to check for any screw, seeing that the lights inside the workroom were shining through something glass.

She quickly glanced over her shoulder to the giant, noticing he has a glass jar in his hand, the opening facing down towards her, getting ready to catch her.

Stephanie loudly yelped when she saw the glass jar getting ready to catch her.

As she was running, he started moving the jar down at her quickly, trying to catch her with it.

She took the chance and jumped, as the jar missed her an inch and landed on the ground, not shattering after the collision.

It allowed her to be relieved for a moment…

But instead collided with the wall, completely missing the visible hole in the wall, making her pass out slightly from the direct impact of the wall to her head.

After the giant had missed her with the jar, he watched her jump towards the hole in the wall, thinking that she will escape in time.

But, she instead missed it in inches and collided with the wall, before collapsing on the ground on her side.

He winced after she hit her head against the wall, as he picked the glass jar up from the ground, placing it away from him and on the counter.

Then, he became worried, thinking that he could have accidentally hurt her after that impact on the wall.

He waited for a few minutes, thinking that he did accidentally hurt her, until she regained her conscious, shaking her head side to side slightly.

Stephanie slowly got up to her hands, carefully feeling her right side of her head in mild discomfort, slightly groaning to herself in pain as she tried getting the slight ringing out of her head.

She felt dizzy as she was up on her hands, her vision spinning as she tried pushing it away from her head.

Stephanie tried to force herself to get up to her feet and walk over to the hole that is inches away from her.

But, the dizziness was stronger than her force, and she stayed at where she is.

A luminous shadow loomed over her, causing her instantly froze in her tracks, although a little dizzy.

Slowly, she turned over to her back, still slightly dazed from the direct impact of the wall that she went into.

After she got over to her back, she saw the giant got over to her, as she flinched slightly and wanted to scoot away from him as quickly as he can.

But her dizziness was still there, making her frozen on the spot, as she stared up at him, with fear in her eyes.

When he got over to where she is, he knelt down to her, his wrists on his thighs as his hands were hanging down, his shadow looming over her entirely.

She is caught, and all she could do was pray he is not angry that she intrudes his workshop without his permission.

They both are staring at each other, as she was staring at him through his goggles, Stephanie's heart beating fast, as she stayed on her back.

But, she noticed that he looked worried, as well as slightly surprised.

She could not judge him for that.

Stephanie would react the same way as him.

He slowly reached up to his goggles with both of his hands, still in awe as he stared at her, as she wondered what he was doing.

But, he instead gently took them into his fingers, taking them off and placing them on his forehead, clearly seeing her without looking at her through the goggles.

After he took off his goggles, Stephanie could see he has steel-blue eye color, just like the rest of the team, and she relaxed a bit, noticing they are not full of anger, but curiosity and concern.

What is he concerned about?

Maybe from accidentally scaring her and hurting her?

As for her, she looked mildly astonished that he has steely blue eyes.

Since he is wearing those goggles on his eyes to protect his eyes from small shrapnels of metal, she could not make out what color is his eyes, so, she guessed his eye color is an emerald green eye color.

Feeling like it is taking too much time staring at each other, he gently placed his left hand down on the ground, as Stephanie jolted in startlement when he suddenly moved, startled that he was the first one to move.

She thought that he could be getting a better look at her, as she felt like a bug compared to him, but instead, he removed his right wrist from his leg and started to reach for her!

Stephanie started to panic as he was reaching over to her with his right hand, trying to force herself to move, except only could move her arms slightly.

She immediately scrambles back against the wall behind her with her hands to escape his gloved hand, until her dizziness made her feel light-headed, as she dazed a bit, stopping in her tracks.

The giant noticed that look from her body and face, while she was wobbling slightly, so, being careful as he can, he placed his right gloved palm behind her back, as she went into it, feeling completely dizzy.

After she had gone into the palm of his right hand, he moved his left hand to underneath her legs, acting as a platform for her lay across on top of, without accidentally falling off.

Then, he carefully lifted her up from the ground and away from the hole, getting a better look of her, as she just laid there in his palms, still dizzy and scared at the same time.

As for her, she looked dizzy, nervous, and scared.

All mashed into one small body with a slight pounding headache.

Being careful as he can, he slowly stood up to his height without accidentally falling over to his bottom, while holding her in her hands, as she was just laying there, shaking from head to toe slightly.

After he got up to his feet, he slowly and carefully removed his left hand from underneath her legs, moving his other hand into a flat palm position, as she was laying on top of it, staring up at the ceiling instead of him.

Then, he reached over to his chest overall pocket, and opened it, as he slipped Stephanie inside, feeling her drop gently to the bottom of the pocket.

Stephanie landed inside with a soft grunt, laying side first on the bottom, staring at the fabric wall in front of her.

She decided wisely to stay inside his pocket instead of trying to get out as fast as she can.

Since she is captured, she could not escape from him since he already has her.

After he had carefully tucked her inside his overall pocket, he turned back around to the counter where the blueprint is and walked straight to it.

Stephanie jolted a bit when he started walking, but relaxed a bit when she noticed he was heading back over to the counter where he was working at, deciding he is getting back to work.

After she had relaxed a bit, she curled up a bit inside to get comfortable, although a little scared to think of what he is going to do with her.

But, she does not think that he is not that deadly, just a little misunderstood her for an intruder.

Deciding to take some time off and trying to regain her conscious, she rested for a bit, while hearing the giant write some things down on the blueprint he is working on, then mumble something to himself.

Soon, after a couple of minutes has passed, Stephanie's mild headache had disappeared slowly, as she slowly sat up to her hip, as her left elbow acted as a prop for her to get up, her other was right next to it, making her body slanted upward.

After she had sat up, she glanced around for a moment, noticing that she was still in the giant's chest overall pocket, not pulled out.

She felt mentally relieved that no one else than the giant who found her, or any animals decided to chase her into the workshop to make her even more terrified, but she was safe around him.

As he continued writing and sketching out ideas on other separate papers, Stephanie curiously decides to see what he is doing, to get the boredom out of her head.

So, she slowly tried standing up to her feet, but the softness underneath was really squishy, so she stumbled a bit, but manages to get up fully, grabbing the edge of the pocket.

After she had gripped the edge of the pocket's entrance, she pulled herself up and peeked out, seeing him working on the blueprint, as there were separate papers scattered all over the sides, and some were crumpled up.

She felt curious as she watched him working on the blueprint, puzzled about what he is making in the process.

The design of the machine was strange, but there were parts of the device in separate sections on the blueprint.

Some of them were crossed out, others were left unfinished.

The one that he is working on seemed to be stumped, fiddling the white pencil in his hand for a moment, trying to come up with something in his head.

She pondered what the name was for this machine, so, she glanced around for the name on the blueprint, without even getting out of the pocket she is placed inside.

But she only saw that nothing on the blueprint or the papers have the machine's name.

'Weird…' She curiously thought to herself in curiosity, piqued about what he is making.

So, she decided to politely ask the giant about the blueprint he is writing on, although hesitant to ask at first.

But, she gathered her courage and politely queried him, "'Ey, uh, what's this blueprint about?"

Startled from the sudden voice that softly spoke to him, he flinched, pulling his white pencil away from the blueprint, and glanced about, as his left hand went to his wrench.

When he glanced over his shoulder, thinking that someone else than the Spy he had expected was inside, but no one else was inside, even when he glanced over the other.

Now, he has started believing he is going insane.

"Shit, am Ah hearin' things?" he asked himself, looking slightly worried about the condition that he is going through. "Or am Ah hallucinatin' from stayin' up all night?"

"Not really." Stephanie softly spoke to his ask, although a little worried about what he could react to her talking to him. "You're perfectly normal. Nothing is happening at this moment."

He slightly frowned after she softly spoke to him, as Stephanie was mentally yelling at herself for the stupid thing that she had done.

The giant then placed the white pencil down on the table and stood up fully, still glancing around cautiously.

"Where are ya?" he asked, glancing around for the person.

Stephanie paused for a moment, feeling hesitant to talk to him again and get caught by him or get killed.

But, she gathered her courage again and said, getting his attention, "Uh, look down at your chest pocket."

So, he glanced down at his chest pocket, seeing her as she flinched slightly, but eased up, knowing that he was confused, not angry.

"And I'm not just a figure of your imagination like Py, but real life." Stephanie softly explains to him, as she mentally told herself that she was going to be dead after this.

After she had explained everything to him about what he saw her, he looked confused for a moment, staring at her as he frowned slightly.

Internally, she was panicking to herself that he is angry at her for not explaining any of this to him.

Instead, he moved his fingers away from the wrench that he was touching slightly and placed his white pencil into the same cup that he had pulled out before.

"You are?" he asked curiously, not sounding angry that Stephanie had expected.

She paused for a moment, before nodding her head, answering his question.

He reached up to his overall chest pocket with both of his hands and gently pulled her out of his pocket, as she froze, scared to be accidentally hurt by him.

Instead, he gently held her in his right palm, looking thoughtfully at her with a questioning look on his face.

"Are ya born like this?" he asked, sounding curious about her.

"Uh, no, not really," she answered, as he carefully placed her down on the counter, as she sat there, mentally anxious of what he is thinking about.

She watched as he sat down on a chair that he pulled close to his body, curiously staring at her.

"I think I was shank down by something back at home." Stephanie guessed, continued with her explanations.

"You were shrunken down by somethin' shrunken by somethin' back home?" he questioned, sounding curious.

"Yeah," she answered, glancing away from his direct gaze, looking sad. "I was…"

Ignoring the terrible memory that was lurking in the back of her head, she glanced down at the counter that she is sitting on, noticing she was also sitting on the blueprint that he was working on.

"Anyways, I was curious about the blueprint that you are making, what's it about?" she curiously asked, shifting the subject from how she shrank to the blueprint.

"Why the blueprint is 'bout this machine that Ah'm makin'," he answered. "It's supposed ta be a machine that can both heal and protect the person that it is healin' without any problems of getting sapped or attacked."

"Oh, that's pretty cool!" she exclaimed joyfully, making him slightly blush at her remark. "But who attacks your machines?"

"Spahs 'n Heavys 'n other people," he answered, sounding slightly annoyed. "Usually th' most ones that attack mah things are Spahs 'n Soldiers."

"Huh," she replied thoughtfully, as she thought to herself about the blueprint.

She remembers seeing the massive gun that the Heavy carries around on the battlefield.

Then, she thought about the shovel that the Soldier carries too and the rocket launcher.

"The way that I saw Misha's machine gun, Solly's rocket launcher along with his shovel, and other weapons that I saw earlier when I was around here," Stephanie spoke, as she stood up from the counter and glance over at the designs. "A force field could work that can allow people in the same team to pass through without having to stay in a long time until full health, and those who don't match the same team is stopped."

The giant nodded his head, agreeing with him as he listened to her planning out an idea that could work.

"Yeah, that can help," he replied to her idea after she had explained it, as he shifted his weight on the chair slightly.

She turned her body around to see the rest of the blueprint, but can not see it clearly because of how small she is.

It annoys her because of her height, reminding her of her past when she was smaller than her own sister.

Somehow, the Engineer noticed the look on her face when she turned the other way around, looking annoyed, as she has her arms crossed over her chest.

He was carefully going to reach over to her and picked her up from the counter when he stopped himself when he remembered the misunderstanding chase that she had to go through.

She sighed in slight annoyance as she glanced around, looking for a way to get a good look of the blueprint without getting herself hurt.

As she was thinking of a way to get a good look, she felt a presence that she was going to get grabbed by the giant again.

So, she glanced over to the giant and noticed his hand was in front of him, hesitating for some reason.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sounding worried about him than what she was annoyed about. "You were going to grab me?"

He was going to white lie to her because of her trust towards him.

But, he instead stopped himself from white lying to her, because lying would be making things more horrible.

So, he answered her question, not lying to her, "Yes, Ah was goin' ta."

She remembered the scene too; but ignored the scary memory and said, "You may pick me up, but please be careful."

He felt slightly puzzled about why she is willing to allow him to pick her up, even after that scary encounter they went through?

But, she did want to try again, so, he nodded his head and gently placed his hands down, his right hand out for her to step on, as his left hand was on the table, waiting after her.

She hesitated for a moment, staring at his hand for a moment, feeling uneasy and worried he might betray her.

But, she took a slow and deep breath before exhaling slowly.

After she had taken a deep and slow breath, she started to get on his hand, before sitting down in the middle of his palm.

He did not move his hand as she stepped onto it, and after she took a seat in the middle of his palm, he placed his other hand right next to her, acting as a wall for her to not accidentally fall off.

He carefully lifted his hands up from the counter, as Stephanie mentally panicked to herself, but relaxed a bit, as she placed her right hand on his thumb.

He stopped at the middle of his chest, his hand still right next to her, as she has her hand on his thumb, shaking a little from head to toe.

"Where would you like me to place ya on?" he asked, as Stephanie forced herself to relax.

"I would like to be on your shoulder because I got an idea that can help you with your machine," she answered, pointing at his nearest shoulder, which is the right shoulder.

She mentally felt worried about being on his shoulder, even though she had been on the Heavy's shoulder before, but this is unusual for her to be on someone else's.

But, she trusts him, as he trusts her.

So, she allowed herself to trust him slowly, although still alert for any signs of betrayal.

He nodded his head once after she had answered his question and moved his left hand away from his other hand, which had her in the middle of his palm.

Stephanie slightly flinched when he moved his hand away, but forced herself to relax, as she moved her hand away from his thumb, squeezing the pant legs of her blue jeans in her hands tightly.

After he had moved his other hand, he carefully moved her to his right shoulder, until the bottom of his hand touched his shoulder, patiently waiting for her to climb onto it.

She slowly stood up from sitting down in the middle of his palm, wobbling a bit, before carefully climbing onto his shoulder.

After she had got onto his shoulder, he moved his hand away slightly, before Stephanie repositioned herself to get comfortable and sat down, right next to his neck where she could talk to him in his ear, and to be safe from accidentally falling off and to the ground, she gripped the collar of his undershirt with her left hand.

Now that she can clearly see the blueprint without standing on it, she looked at other designs that he made earlier and said, speaking to him, "Usually Jeremy runs so much that his legs would hurt from running, so, a seat would mind to let him sit down."

"Then other people would sit down," the Engineer spoke, adding in his brilliant idea to hers. "But what 'bout the firearms of th' BLU team?"

"Well, what does the BLU team have?" she questioned, glancing over at him.

"The BLU Pyro has the same flamethrower that ours made, and the BLU Soldier has his rocket launcher and other weapons that they've always got," he answered.

"Well, I was gettin' an idea that could help," she replied thoughtfully, glancing away from him for a moment.

"What's that?" he curiously asked.

"We can first try making the machine first and try other weapons that the team has, and see if that machine breaks or survives through the fire of the flamethrower," she explained, explaining what her idea is.

"Ya mean making the machine, then give it a test run?" he repeated, in his own words.

"Yeah, that's my idea and how I go when I make things," she replied.

He paused for a moment, thinking about the idea in his mind along with Stephanie's, before smiling gently.

"That could work." he agreed, as Stephanie glanced over at him. "Ah have not done that in a long time."

"Yeah, it could help, though," she added thoughtfully. "It could help! Failure means you can try again without failing the project permanently."

He felt confused about what she meant by that, but shrugged his shoulders, and went into making the design.

So, throughout the whole day, the both of them talked about their ideas about the machine, and the official name, which both of them agreed on was "Sana," Latin for "Heal."

And asked for each other's names, as she asked him about his team name.

He responded that his team name was the Engineer, as she accidentally avoided her name, still focused on the project.

At night, Stephanie started getting droopy with sleep, as she was slowly nodding her head, but moved it back up, trying to gain consciousness.

The Engineer somehow noticed that she was getting tired, by how she was slowly nodding her head, and trying not to sleep.

Reaching up with his left hand, he gently picked Stephanie up form his shoulder, startling her a bit, as she jolted, halfway awake.

After she was picked up from his shoulder, he gently placed her into his chest overall pocket again, as she landed on the bottom of the pocket, laying on her back.

Now that she noticed what he was doing, she relaxes again, sighing gently.

"Hey," she sleepy replied, as she curled in the bottom to get comfortable and warm from his body heat. "What's your real name? I did not get it because of how engrossed of our conversation."

"Dell," he replied to her question, as he still focused on their work. "Dell Conagher is mah name."

"'Dell…'" she sleepily repeated. "That's… a nice name…"

He slightly blushed again from her comment about his name.

She fell asleep inside his overall pocket after she commented about his actual name, peacefully sleeping as she had her sweater over her body like a blanket, as a way to keep her body warm from being cold in the moonlit night, as the Engineer continued to work on the project throughout the night, without accidentally waking her up.


	8. Chapter 7: The Medic

The next day, Stephanie decided to visit the Medic, to do a late thank you for aiding her with her wounds from that escape from that metal giant that chased after her back at her home.

Of course, she had stayed over in the Engineer's room, with his official permission of course.

After she had stayed over at his room for the night, she thanked the Engineer for his hospitality and granted it, before showing her the work he had done.

She said that the design on the blueprint was astounding and can not wait to see what it could do after it's finished.

Stephanie flattered the Engineer, as he was blushing, looking sheepish.

After she had flattered the Engineer, she excused herself to go to have a look around to see what else is in the base.

He accepted the excuse and allowed her to leave, although he was mentally worried about what could happen to her if she was not too cautious.

After she had walked out of the Engineer's room, she wandered through the hallway, looking around for the same Medic Bay's door to look for the Medic.

As she turned around the corner, she saw the Medic Bay's doors, as there was the same hallway that the Medic walked through.

She walked over to one of the doors, and hooked her fingers into the corner of the door, using her strength to pull it open.

After she had got some inches of the door almost open, she got it just enough to fit through the gap.

Still holding the door, she eased herself through the gap and reached the other side, popping out and letting the door close.

When she got to the other side of the doors, she was in the medical room, as she felt a wave of uneasiness over her.

The way of how the room seemed to be, she felt like she was in someone's medical chamber of torture.

Goosebumps rose on Stephanie's skin from the thought of it.

Then, she heard sharp, yet light footsteps coming towards the direction of the Medic Bay, as Stephanie panicked, thinking that a different doctor was coming.

Panicking, she ran underneath one of the rolling trays to hide from the incoming person.

She nervously waited for the doctor to stop and turn around, walking away from the doors.

But, the footsteps got closer and closer to the door.

The Medic Bay's doors suddenly slammed open, causing Stephanie to flinch from the sudden noise.

Stephanie heard the same sharp, but quick footsteps heading to somewhere else, as she peeked around the leg of the moving tray, curious and nervous about who is inside the Medic Bay.

Just as she peeked around the corner, to see the same Medic that saved her from before, but with an annoyed look on his face, as well as a frustrated look too.

She winced when she saw him angry, scared to come out and say hello to him.

He got over to his desk, his red rubber gloved hands gripped the edge, ready to explode at any minute.

Stephanie wanted to get out of the room now, but does not want to hear him screaming out loud.

But, he instead sighed, placing his right hand against his right temple, mumbling something in German which, luckily, Stephanie could not translate with her own mind.

"Warum habe ich mich für diesen Job entschieden, obwohl diese dummen Idioten nicht wissen, wer ihnen mit ihrer Gesundheit geholfen hat?!" he suddenly snapped in German out loud, startling Stephanie from the sudden snap. "Das nächste Mal, wenn ich ihnen geholfen habe, werde ich ihnen eine gute Operation geben, wo sie nicht direkt sehen, wenn sie angreifen!"

He sighed as he placed his hands back down on the desk's side, sighing to himself to calm down from his frustration.

Stephanie wanted to escape from his anger, but something inside of her stopped her from going away and deciding to stay inside, wanting to see more of him.

So, being cautious of his awareness, she slowly moved to a different spot, still out of his sight and hiding underneath a medical bed.

She peeked over the side of the spot of where she is, noticing that the Medic was positioning himself for something until something that he did make her shocked.

He started singing a song.

None of the team members that she had met have sung before, but now a Medic is singing.

Right in front of her!

"🎵Zhere's a certain hellish realm,🎵" he sang. "🎵Reserved for everyone vho yells zhey need the medic!🎵"

Stephanie listened to him singing, her jaw halfway dropped, peeking around the corner of the leg that she was hiding behind, maybe a little too much to let him see her.

"🎵Vhile I'm eating, vhile I'm reading, or excreting on zhe John,🎵" he continued singing, turning around from the desk that he was standing in front of, walking away as Stephanie snapped out of her shocked gaze and hid in the spot of where she was standing, hiding from the Medic, as he continued singing. "🎵Zhere's no hiding from zhe screaming en my mind!🎵"

"🎵Zhere's no place en heaven high, vhere I can crawl avay und die,🎵" he continued, as he picked up his bone saw from his other table right beside him. "🎵Zhe only real solutions absolutely homicide!🎵"

He paused as he stared at his reflection on his bone saw for a moment, before sighing.

"🎵All zhe wounds I've ever sealed, und the boo-boos zhat I've healed, I'm a changed medic!🎵" he sang as he turned around to the front, waving his bone saw around, making Stephanie feel slightly nervous about getting sliced by that steel blade of his own if she was too close to him. "🎵Now, zhese enjuries can stay vhile I blow some noobs avay! Beware zhe medic!🎵"

He placed his bone saw down on the desk and turned back around, as Stephanie hid again, but slightly.

"🎵Zhe Soldier und zhe Sniper, I'm afraid zhey've not got long!🎵" he sang. "🎵Zhe Demoman und Pyro quickly fade!🎵"

He picked his bone saw back up in his hand from the desk that he placed on top of earlier.

"🎵Und zhe medic vill just laugh vhile zhe Heavy's torn en half, by zhe Medic und his bone saw's gruesome blade!🎵" he sang, pointing his bone saw in his hand towards an x-ray of Heavy with a missile inside his body.

Stephanie shudders in worry, concerned to be surgically opened by him for science.

"🎵Now zhe Sniper has jars of jarate, clear glass bottles he fills vith his piss,🎵" he sang, as Stephanie made a slightly disgusted face about that sentences. "🎵Vhen he hits all his foes, he crits all of his blows!🎵"

He paused for a moment, straightening his body up slightly, before holding up his bone saw, triumphantly smiling as he could.

"🎵He has zhat, I have zhis!🎵" he continued, before turning back around, luckily not seeing Stephanie hiding. "🎵Zhe Engineer has electronics, und zhe Spy's got disguises und tricks!🎵"

If she moves from her spot, he might notice her and might catch her.

She shudders quietly to herself at the thought of being caught by him.

"🎵Und zhe Pyro's ensane!🎵" he sang, before adding; "🎵Eh, zhe Scout's kind of lame.🎵"

Stephanie quietly giggled at his response about the Scout.

"🎵Zhey do zhat, I do zhis! I do zhis,🎵" he paused again, laying back first on his medical bed, staring directly up at the ceiling as he stopped singing.

Stephanie peeked around the corner of the table leg, deciding to move now.

So, she quickly moved, as he sat up from laying on the bed, as she went underneath a chair, hiding behind another leg.

She carefully peeked around the corner to the Medic, as he glanced over at the Medic Bay's doors, as he frowned, clenching his fist in anger.

"🎵Ef jou'd like a reason vhy my entire team should die!🎵" he sang, the tone of his voice changed into slight anger. "🎵Zhen, play zhe medic!🎵"

"🎵Vell, my friends, zhe doctor's out,🎵" he paused, striking his fist down on the desk, making Stephanie jolt from the impact of his fist. "🎵Of his vhole mind! So go on, shout! Jou'll get no medic!🎵"

"🎵I don't care about points or payloads only psychopathic sprees,🎵" he sang, pointing at some papers of points, before picking up a spare red glove of his and a blue glove of the BLU Medic. "🎵Nor vhich color team jou're playing, RED or BLU!🎵"

Stephanie listened to him singing, hiding a few times as he moved around, wondering what he could be doing as she feels interested.

He might not be a dangerous doctor, after all, he did save her from danger.

"🎵Und ef I see just one more hat, I'll tear jour ensides out like zhat!🎵" he sang, waving his bone saw in front of him to make a mention of cutting a person's insides out. "🎵Like Saxton Hale on a safari at zhe zoo!🎵"

Stephanie slightly cocked her head to the side when he mentioned someone, feeling confused about that person.

"🎵I'm a physician on a mission und contrition esn't my style!🎵" he continued singing, as he picked up a light cyan blue bottle with his red symbol on the label, before slamming it on the desk, as Stephanie slightly jolted again. "🎵Am I a monster or a man? I cannot say!🎵"

He made a mention with his body and his hands of his MediPack that he continually carries with him on the battlefield as Stephanie watched, luckily not being caught by him.

"🎵All I know es zhat my über's locked und loaded like a trooper! Medicare's one shot away!🎵" he sang before positioning himself to his heroic pose, still holding his bone saw in his hand. "🎵Jou zhink I've arrived bearing safety, but I come not vith peace, but a sword!🎵"

"🎵Zhere's a high price to pay for the health I've purveyed!🎵" he sang, before placing the bone saw down on the desk, then his hands, shaking slightly. "🎵All I do, zhey've ignored!🎵"

Then, he turned around from his desk as Stephanie hid again, trying not to be caught by him.

"🎵All I do, I'm abhorred!🎵" he sang out loud, before quieting down slightly.

Stephanie peeked around the corner slightly, watching him as he turned slightly to the side.

"🎵I once was a man who was valiantly healing everyone crying, 'MEDIC!'🎵" he gently sang. "🎵I once healed a Spy vho zhen knifed me goodbye!🎵"

His tone changed from quiet to frustration, as his attitude shifted to slight anger.

"🎵Zhat's vhen I learned to let people die! Let zhem die!🎵" he sang, as Stephanie quietly shudder to herself at the thought. "🎵Leave zhe Demoman for dead! Let zhe Heavy fill vith lead!🎵"

Stephanie flinched when he sang about the Heavy filled with lead, remembering the time that he was shot in the chest by a scattergun when she had first come to the battlefield.

"🎵Meet zhe new Medic! May zhe Pyro be enflamed! May jou loathe zhis wretched game vithout zhe medic!🎵" he continued singing, as Stephanie listened to him.

Then, he snatched a couple of his blank papers from his desk and pushed them away from his body.

"🎵May jour papers all be stolen! Jour intelligence be lost!🎵" he continued singing, not even noticing someone was listening to him. "🎵May your sanviches be full of rancid meat!🎵"

Then, he turned back around, as Stephanie hid again, but peeking around the corner slightly.

"🎵Und zhe first fool zhat I hear vho calls for medic gets zheir rear rent surgically…!🎵" He drifted off when his anger that he has vanished.

He was already tired from moving around in his room and swinging his bone saw around a lot, so, he placed both of his palms on his desk at the bottom of both of them behind his back.

Stephanie waited for a moment, wondering what happened to him, and thought that he was going to have a heart attack since he is old.

But, he instead was panting slightly to himself as he wiped one of the loose locks of his jet-black hair out of his face, pushing it back into place.

So, Stephanie decided to allow herself to get caught by him, but only a little, not too much to make things go out of hand.

Fully turning around from the chair leg, she cleared her throat from being quiet the whole time, to listen to him singing and sang, completing his song for him, "🎵By him, your friendly PH.D., the Medic.🎵"

Her voice captured his attention, so, he glanced up from looking down at the ground, curious about who sang that.

He removed his hands from the desk behind his back, and glanced around the room, looking for the person who sang it, although looked alerted too.

Noticing that he looked alert when she peeked around the corner, she hid again and decided to sing a song that could catch his attention and maybe ease him from his anger and alert.

She vocalized for a moment, singing a song that was from a favorite TV show of hers, except the lyrics were changed for him to listen to.

When the Medic heard her vocalizing, he turned his head towards the noise, but see nothing.

His hand reaches over to the bone saw, but stopped, thinking twice about attacking his intruder.

So, he moved his hand away, deciding to look for the intruder than to attack.

"🎵Why, would you want to be here?🎵" she sang, as he glanced around in curiosity, wondering who is singing the song that just started. "🎵What do you ever, see here?🎵"

"🎵That doesn't make you feel worse than you do?🎵" she sang, as he listened. "🎵And tell me, what's the use of feeling, blue?🎵"

He slightly tilted his head to the side in confusion when he heard that sentence.

What did the person mean by that?

"🎵Why, would you employ them?🎵" she sang, making a gesture to the doors of the Medic Bay. "🎵Subjects that destroyed you?🎵"

"🎵Why keep on giving, hope, oh tell me,🎵" she sang, as he took two steps forward towards where she is singing. "🎵What's the use of feeling, blue?🎵"

"🎵An army has a use, they can go fight a war!🎵" she sang, trying her best to not to bail from being caught. "🎵A Scout has a use, he can tell you what it's for.🎵"

"🎵A Pyro terrifies, a Spy terraforms.🎵" she continued singing, while he was walking towards where she is. "🎵Where's their medic when they need him? You've got to be a medic!🎵"

He looked confused when the person said that he needed to be a medic, so, he looked around, continuing to look for the person responsible for the singing.

"🎵Yes, of course, we still hate it, and we're always thinking about it,🎵" she sang, as he was getting almost close to her. "🎵But now there's nothing we can, do, so tell me, what's the use of feeling, what's the use of feeling, what's the use of feeling blue?🎵"

He continued listening to her singing, feeling confused, but, as well as slightly relaxed that someone else understood that he is frustrated.

Although alert for the intruder, he wanted to catch the person instead of harming, so, he looked down on the ground, knowing there is someone smaller than anyone.

"🎵Oh, how can you stand it to be here with it all?🎵" she sang, as he was getting closer to where she is. "🎵Drowning in all of this rage! Wouldn't you rather forget, oh?🎵"

"🎵Won't it be grand to get rid of it all?🎵" she sang. "🎵Let's make a plan of attack! Start looking forward and stop looking back, well!🎵"

He got closer until he caught sight of her, standing there singing to herself, mostly to him, not noticing the shadow looming over her.

"🎵Yes, of course, we still hate it, and we're always thinking about it.🎵" she sang, not noticing him peeking around the corner of the chair's leg, seeing her standing there, singing her song for him. "🎵Don't you know I hate it, too?🎵"

That sentence made him feel both confused and shocked.

She hates it too?

"🎵But, tell me… What's the use of feeling…?🎵" she slowly trailed off when she noticed there was something off. "🎵What's the use of feeling…? What's the use of feeling…?🎵"

She stopped and turned around to whoever was staring at her, and instead was face to face with the Medic, now seeing her underneath a chair.

Stephanie jolted when she saw him, gasping slightly.

Immediately, she wanted to run away from him, because of her fear of doctors, but she instead was frozen to the spot, as she was shaking from head to toe.

She noticed he was staring at her, with a confused look on her face, so she decided to finish the melody she started.

So, she shakily, but managed to finish the song, while he was watching her.

After she finished the song that she was singing, Stephanie felt that she was going to be in trouble, or punished.

"Jou vere zhe one zhat vas singing zhat song?" he instead questioned her, startling Stephanie as she flinched from the sudden sound of his voice.

She paused for a moment, gathering her courage to speak and stammered, "Y-Yes, I was. And I… was listening to your song too. It is good, like mine."

He slightly blushed at her response to his song as she glanced away from his gaze, looking embarrassed that she is caught singing one of her favorite songs.

And felt like she was not supposed to be here too.

Suddenly, she was gently picked up from her hiding spot from where she was without her noticing.

The object that she was lifted up is something red and rubbery, as she jolted from the sudden grab.

She glanced down at her waist, to notice she is gently grabbed by his rubber-gloved hand, getting picked up from where she is, before placed down onto another rubbery surface underneath her, as a stable platform for her to be on top of.

After she was placed into his other hand, she was not doing anything but was trembling a bit, still trying to get used to being picked up all the time when they want her around.

And maybe trying not to be terrified of him?

She was lifted up to his chest and gently placed against it, she felt a little more relaxed than being nervous.

Stephanie absent-mindedly placed her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

He did not mind her leaning her head against his chest to listen to his heartbeat, so he just slowly stood up from kneeling down on the ground, as Stephanie hunched up a bit, but relax slowly.

After the Medic got up from the ground, he walked over to his desk and carefully removed her from his chest, as she moved her head away from his chest.

Then, he gently placed her down on the surface of the desk, as she wobbled a bit when she was placed onto, before turning around to him, as he was just standing there in front of her.

"So, vhat brought jou here?" he politely asked, as he walked around the desk, sitting down onto his black wheelie chair, and picking up a white cup of coffee with his symbol on the side.

She remembered what she was doing and answered his question, "I was just coming here to do a late thank you for savin' me on the battlefield."

He nearly choked on his coffee after he had taken a sip.

Startled that he nearly spews his coffee out of his mouth, she backed up slightly to not get any coffee all over her and trying not to trip over anything.

But only a few came out instead of a lot of what she had expected.

After he unexpectedly spat out a bit of coffee, he placed the cup down right next to him, but away from where Stephanie is.

"Wie bitte?" he politely asked, in fluent German, slightly clearing his throat from the leftover coffee.

Understanding what he meant in German, she answered, repeating her words to what she said to him, "I said, 'I was just coming here to do a late thank you for saving me on the battlefield.'"

He felt slightly surprised, as Stephanie mentally felt worried about what he was thinking about.

She came to him to thank him for saving her on the battlefield when she first arrived.

No one had thanked him before and only appreciated his work quietly.

He felt confused about why she decided to thank him?

"Vhy zhanking me?" he asked, sounding confused.

"Because without you, I wouldn't be here talking to you about why." she softly explained. "And, you are an amazing person that ever had come to my rescue."

He slightly blushed as he glanced away from the remark, as Stephanie mentally giggled at his slight blush.

"And, to let you know, I'm not flirting," she added. "I'm telling the truth."

"Understand," he acknowledges, as he took a sip of his coffee, his time, not choking.

Stephanie gently smiled to herself, as she walked over to his left arm, walking around the arm and sitting down right next to his thumb, where he can see her without having to look far away from him of where she was standing at.

He did not do anything when she sat down right next to his hand, as he placed his cup down, deciding to let her sit there.

But, he was confused about why she seemed to be hesitant a few times?

"So," Stephanie spoke, glancing up at his gaze. "How are you?"

"Eh," he responded. "I have a lot of vork to do und I don't have anyzhing else to do since I have already finished zhem."

"You do?" Stephanie asked, sounding confused.

"Ja, of course," he responded to her question. "Ever since I haven't gotten ento my vork, I have less of paperwork to do."

"Maybe all the stress is doing that?" she suggested, gently shrugging her shoulders.

"Ja, zhat could be et too." he agreed, nodding his head gently.

Stephanie paused for a moment, glancing away from the Medic, as he noticed her bandages around her palms, remembering the time that he mended her wounds.

"Er, ma'am?" He questioned, as Stephanie glanced back over to him, snapping out of her thoughts. "Are jou also here for a checkup too?"

She was going to reject that she was not here for that, because of her fear of doctors, but stopped herself, remembering the wounds might get infected if she refuses.

Stephanie glanced down at her hands for a moment, before responding, "I suppose that too."

She felt hesitant to be examined by the Medic, since what had happened to her back after she was born.

Stephanie mentally pushed the memory away, as the Medic placed his left hand down in front of her, as she got up from the desk and slowly climbed onto his palm.

After she had climbed into the middle of his palm and sat down, the Medic lifted her up to his face, as she mentally felt like she wanted to back out of the offer, but stopped herself, although shaking a bit.

The Medic noticed her shaking and felt confused about it, but felt concerned about her injuries.

He did do some medical treatment on it to keep it from infecting, but he was not too sure since she has been behind the walls of the base, she might have gathered some dust while walking.

Stephanie slowly eased herself down, mentally repeatedly telling herself that he will not cause any harm to her or try any medical treatments on her.

Needles, for instance.

She forced the thought in her head away to focus on what she is doing and moved her sleeves up to show him the bandages, along with her pant legs too.

The Medic patiently waited for her to push her sleeves up to show him the bandages, but mentally questioning himself of why is she shaking at this moment.

And why is she hesitating at some moments?

Did something happen to her in her life to fear a medic?

Randomly guessing, he chose that she was scared of medics because of the needles or surgeries.

After she pushed her sleeves up to her elbows, along with her pant legs to her knees, revealing the bandages that he had wrapped after their last appointment, not touched either.

"Gut, gut," he softly mumbled to himself, as he stood up from the desk, carrying Stephanie in his hand, as she wrapped her arms around his thumb, to be safe as he walks. "Jou didn't mess vith zhem."

Stephanie glanced away for a moment, looking a little sheepish about if she did, he would be angry at her for what she did.

He walked over to one of the medical tables and placed her down, before kneeling down on one knee and looked at her at eye level, as his chin was on top of the surface.

Stephanie felt nervous about what he was doing as she stared up at his eyes, noticing he was actually observing her as she sat there, mentally feeling uneasy.

She watched as his steel-blue eyes glance around her, looking at every detail on her.

Stephanie felt like she wanted to tell him she is not comfortable with him staring at her, but kept it in her mind, deciding that asking him would make him irritated.

After a few minutes of observing her, he got up from kneeling down to her level, as she flinched slightly, but relaxed.

"Zhe scratches jou have luckily has healed, but I don't know about the bruise that you have," he spoke, as Stephanie listened to him. "Did et heal?"

She reached up to the side of her head, feeling where she had an impact of the strange metal object, noticing it did not hurt anymore, even when she poked a little too hard.

"I think so," she answered, moving her hand down from her temple. "It doesn't hurt that much anymore."

He slightly nodded his head in understandment, and picked Stephanie up again, before placing her into his left hand, as she just sat there in the middle of his palm.

"Zhat's gut." he sighed, lifting her up to his eye level, as she absent-mindedly pulled her sleeves back down over her arms. "Es zhere anyzhing else jou feel?"

"Truthfully…" she drifted off, glancing away for a moment. "I'm a little scared."

A confused look appeared on his face after she had responded to his question, as she felt more uneasy about him.

"Vhy?" he asked, moving his hand over to his shoulder. "Vhy are jou scared?"

He gently placed her down onto his shoulder as she moved over to the side of his neck, taking two handfuls of his collar.

"I, uh, well…" she stammered, shaking a bit as the memories of the doctor that scared her half to death haunted her mind.

Stephanie did not feel comfortable explaining what happened to her about doctors when she was little and does not want to explain why, because of how scary it was.

But, she wanted to tell him to get it off her chest, so she decided to tell him why.

"After I was born, I was taken from mom for a moment," Stephanie explained, as the Medic sat back down on the chair, listening to Stephanie's story, as he was patient with her, allowing her to take some time. "To be cleaned."

"But, after I was washed," she paused, shaking a bit before Stephanie sighed. "I was covered with a towel, and instead of trying not to scare the baby, this nurse was being careless with me."

She recalled the memory when she was little, her mother telling her the story about what happened to her and why she was scared of doctors.

"And, I was wrapped with the towel around my body, not being careful of scaring me, and I was terrified," Stephanie explained as it got off her chest. "And, another reason why I am scared of doctors is not because of needles,"

She paused as she chuckled softly to herself from the ridiculous fear of needles, as the Medic rolled his eyes in slight amusement.

"I, uh, am scared of being opened up for getting surgery and many other things that I am scared of." Stephanie finished, sounding sheepish and a little uneasy.

The Medic stared at her for a moment, as Stephanie felt more sheepish, before he glanced away, chuckling softly.

"Jou're not zhe only one vho es scared of needles." he chuckled, as Stephanie's sheepish turned to confusion.

"Who?" Stephanie curiously asked.

The Medic glanced over at her, with a smirk on his face, and responding to her question, "Et es Scout."

Stephanie paused for a moment, thinking about his answer, before softly giggling.

"Scout's afraid of needles too?" she asked, sounding a little amused about Scout's fear.

The Medic nodded his head and smiled, chuckling to himself too.

Stephanie softly chuckled along with him before thinking about something else.

"Hey, uh, I didn't get your name," she said, glancing over at him. "But, my name is Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."

He glanced over at her and responded, "Augustus, Augustus Ludwig es my name."

"Is it okay if I call you Dr. Ludwig then?" Stephanie asked, mentioning his last name.

"If jou vant." The Medic responded. "But, I prefer to be called zhe Medic."

Stephanie nodded her head and glanced away, thinking to herself for a moment, as she gently rubbed her left arm, that is not covered in the bandages anymore.

The Medic glanced back over to his papers, thinking to himself for a moment, as Stephanie continuing to rub her left arm, looking a little awkward.

Then, the Medic Bay's doors opened, revealing to be the Scout coming in.

Before he could say something, he noticed Stephanie on the Medic's shoulder, looking calm while looking at him.

"Ja?" the Medic asked, as Stephanie listened to the conversation between the two. "Vhat es et, Scout?"

The Scout turned his attention to the Medic and answered his question, "I just came here to get a checkup since ya always ask us to get one."

The Medic rolled his eyes, and Stephanie continued listening to the conversation, not even bothering to ask them a question.

They both calmly talked about their appointments, and mostly about battle positions, and the Soldier.

Something from the back of Stephanie's head told her she might want to meet the Soldier once more and try to get her backpack back before things might get worse.

But, she did not feel like this time was not the perfect time to get her backpack back from the Soldier's room.

So, she decided to wait for the right time.


End file.
